The Hundred and First
by yuugiri
Summary: Because of Arata, Taichi had come face-to-face with a hundred self-proclaimed rivals. And Arata… Arata was the hundred and first of those.
1. Chapter 1

**I**

* * *

He did not see it coming. He had thought that she was just going to be a friend based on geography, given they had gone to the same Elementary school. But by the time he realized it, she had already invaded his world, and although too young to realize what it meant, perhaps he had already fallen in love with her.

He had probably started loving her even before she had started loving Karuta, and there had been times when he had hoped – _prayed_, even – now that they were in High school, that at least _that _could have been his advantage.

He had been wrong.

Come to think of it, Mashima Taichi had been wrong about a lot of things when it came to Ayase Chihaya. And he hated it and loved it at the same time that he had started to believe that she was probably the only living contradiction in his otherwise perfect life.

Taichi, as his friends back when they were young had pointed out, was _perfect_. Smart, athletic, popular and rich. By the time puberty had done its dirty job on him, the people around him started saying that he was smart, athletic, popular, rich _and _good-looking. They had said it to him so many times that by High school, he had actually started to believe them. Sure, he had always had the confidence back when he was younger; his mom made a lot of effort to mold him into the perfect little boy that he was, and it did good for his ego.

But it had been Chihaya who had hammered the humility into him and showed him that Mashima Taichi was not, _at all_, perfect.

She and Wataya Arata.

Oh, Arata.

He had come as some sniveling transfer student from Fukui, wearing ragged clothes and a heavy accent that Taichi had thought funny, simply because the other kids thought it was funny. Only Chihaya had thought that it wasn't. So much so she had risked being the class outcast with the sniveling transfer student. And even before Taichi had realized it, Arata had stolen her away from him without trying, dragging her into a world of cards and poems of a hundred star-crossed lovers that had come to be her first experience of a _dream_.

Because of Arata, Chihaya had found her place.

Because of Arata, Taichi had come face-to-face with a hundred self-proclaimed rivals.

And Arata… Arata was the _hundred and first _of those.

When Arata left for Fukui even before their last year at elementary school ended, Chihaya had been crushed. For whatever place she held Arata in her heart, Taichi did not know, but he was convinced that Chihaya thought Arata dear, and that Taichi had been utterly, utterly jealous about it.

At first he had thought that perhaps he was just a sore loser, that he did not like losing Chihaya's attention – or anyone else's, for that matter – to Arata. Arata was better at something he was not, and so he had tried to rationalize that he just hated losing because he was used to _winning_. There had also been times that Taichi tried to talk himself out of the bitterness and jealousy he had for Arata. After all, Taichi had _everything_, and Arata only had Karuta.

But Karuta was _Chihaya's _'everything'.

And so where would that equation lead to, normally?

He had been afraid to admit it to himself, but more often than not, he was frightened of the fact that Arata was already beating him in a game that he wasn't even physically present in. The distance between Fukui and Tokyo was three hundred fifteen and a half kilometers. A hundred ninety six miles. Three and a half hours away by bullet train. Thirty-four minutes by plane.

But to Chihaya, he was just a hundred Karuta poems away. And to Chihaya, a hundred Karuta poems surpassed time, space and distance. Arata was anywhere a tatami mat was placed, and Arata was anywhere a deck of Karuta cards was present.

And Taichi was always a couple of steps behind Chihaya. On occasion, he was right in front of her. Most of the time he was sitting beside her.

_Dammit. _

She was the only one who could do this to him. He knew Chihaya was his greatest weakness. He was always better at playing when she was not around, and more often than not, he had tried to turn it to his advantage when she was off watching other matches that may interest her. He worried about what she thought, and panicked about winning faster when she was around so that she could hurry off and do what he thought she really wanted to do. Those situations resulted to terrible disasters, and usually ended up with him making a complete fool of himself.

And Chihaya would cry for his losses, but also cry for his victories, leaving him in anagrams. She was always such an honest, sweet girl, and her actions make him believe that she might actually care for him. No, that would be unfair to Chihaya; Taichi _knew _that she cared for him.

But with a hundred and one rivals surrounding them, Taichi honestly wanted to know where his place was among them.

They had but a year left of High school.

Only one more year.

And after that, Arata was coming to Tokyo.

Taichi's three-hundred-fifteen-and-a-half-kilometer advantage… The hundred-ninety-six-mile favoring circumstance... The three-and-a-half-hours-away-by-bullet-train leverage... The thirty-four-minutes-by-plane leeway… it would be gone in a year.

And he was scared to death of it.

And when he was scared, his mother's words would ring in his head like a gong.

_Focus on contests that you can win. _

Dammit.

"Taichi? You're not listening to me, are you?"

Taichi snapped his head up and found Chihaya peering up at him from her place on the tatami mat in their clubhouse. She was sprawled on her back, a slightly-crumpled piece of paper resting on her stomach. She did not look too happy that he was ignoring her.

"Sorry, what?" Taichi asked, scratching the back of his neck, feeling like an idiot that he had just spaced out on her.

Chihaya picked up the piece of paper with both hands and held it out at arms' length over her head. "I wanted to know if you're finished with the career assessment form Miyauchi-sensei passed out to us yesterday."

Taichi blinked owlishly at the paper, on which he could vaguely see 'QUEEN' written in Chihaya's hasty handwriting. He could not help but laugh at the way Chihaya still hadn't changed.

It was so funny he could cry. "Yeah. I already handed it back yesterday."

Chihaya gasped, scrambling on all fours and crawling towards Taichi so suddenly that he had to back away from her. "What?! You…! I mean, you've decided what you're going to do after high school? What did you write down? Why didn't you tell me?! Are you going to college?"

Taichi, overwhelmed at her sudden barrage of questions, laughed weakly as he kept his eyes low on the tatami mat, where Chihaya had completely crumpled her assessment form in a tight ball and had it clutched in one hand, forgotten. "Yeah, kind of…"

Chihaya grinned, sitting back on her haunches. "I was thinking of coming back here. To teach, you know. Ka – "

"Karuta, right?" Taichi finished for her, grabbing her wrist and making her release the assessment-form-turned-ball.

"Yeah!" she said, giggling. "I mean, we have to keep the club alive, and I have a feeling that doing that would take a lot of effort, since, you know, we still don't have a lot of members. And we only have a year left! So, I thought that if I become a teacher here… "

Taichi stared at her blandly, sighing, as he tried to straighten out the wrinkles of the form against the tatami mat. "Chihaya."

"Yeah?"

"You need a degree on education to be a teacher."

Chihaya's smile froze on her face, and she blinked several times. "Wait, what?"

"If you want to come back to teach kids, you need a degree. That said, you need to go to college and _earn _a degree."

The smile slid off her face completely. After a few seconds, her jaw dropped in horror. "Really?!"

Taichi sighed again, rubbing his forehead with a thumb in exasperation. "You're kidding me, right?"

"B-b-but…! But I need to _get_ into a college before I get a degree. I need to _pass_ an entrance exam first!" That was probably the time when reality started to sink in. She ran a hand through her hair in a frenzy. Then, as if suddenly hit by a good idea, she grabbed Taichi's forearm excitedly. "I know! You said you're going to college, right, Taichi? I'm going where you're going! Then we can study together for the entrance exams! It'll be like practicing Karuta together!"

Taichi was not impressed. "I'm going to Tokyo University," he said flatly.

Chihaya's excited expression dissolved once again. Tokyo University's entrance exams were well known to be _murderously _high standard. Taichi was expecting Chihaya to burst out crying then and there, and so he was completely surprised when her eyes widened and Taichi could practically see stars twinkling in them.

Taichi winced. "What is it?"

Chihaya's chin dimpled, almost to the verge of breaking out the water works. "Arata said he's also planning to attend Tokyo U," she whispered, and the hands gripping Taichi's forearm tightened into a death grip.

Taichi did not say anything.

That was because he already knew Arata's plan.

Taichi's mother had already been convinced at sending Taichi to America to study in Harvard. They had the money, and Taichi had the smarts.

But…

The distance between Massachusetts and Tokyo was ten-thousand eight-hundred and fourteen kilometers. Six thousand, seven-hundred and nineteen miles. Thirteen hours, fifty-six minutes away by plane.

And Arata would be _here_.

And Taichi would be _there_.

And they had Karuta together.

And Taichi and Chihaya would have nothing.

And that scared him to pieces.

And when he was scared, his mother's words would ring in his head like a gong.

_Focus on contests that you can win. _

Taichi closed his eyes, breathed in deep.

_Like hell I will, mother. _

Chihaya suddenly had her arms around him, hugging him shamelessly, because Chihaya was simply just like that. "I-I'll do my best. I'll study hard. And after a year, it would be just like back in elementary. You and me and Arata. And we'll be a team again, Taichi! Just like old times!"

It took a while before Taichi could get over the shock of her sudden invasion of his personal space, but he relaxed in her embrace, and he patted her head gingerly.

"Yeah. Just like old times," he agreed.

He knew that he did not have the talent at Karuta, and that Arata was simply one of those who were born with the gift of being great at it.

But he had never really loved Karuta the way Arata loved it, or the way Chihaya loved it.

It was simply because _Chihaya _loved it that he had started with the game anyway. He won in matches because he hated losing, but not because he was especially drawn to Karuta per se.

And he knew that this was his advantage.

If Arata loved Karuta enough to be unbeatable in it, then Taichi knew that he loved Chihaya enough to win her over.

One day.

Someday.

Maybe.

Even if he had a hundred and one rivals standing in his way.

He rested his chin on Chihaya's shoulder, breathing in her strawberry-scented shampoo mixed with the faint smell of the tatami mats beneath them. "I can't wait."

* * *

_**A/N: I started watching Chihayafuru a few months back, and I don't know what it is that has kept me interested on a game that I know I would never fully understand even if I tried. But this anime was one of the reasons I regretted not having a passion for something when I was younger. I feel for Taichi. I really do. One of these days, I'd like to see him and Chihaya together, not because I love Arata any less, but because I think Taichi deserves a break, and that they look absolutely look good together. **_

_**This is my first story on this fandom, and this is meant to be a oneshot, but if I find an inspiration to write another chapter for it, I just might. But who knows? **_

_**Thanks for reading! **_


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

* * *

Perhaps it had been fate that brought the five of them together. Five people with absolutely nothing in common except for a passion for stealing cards from under other people's noses. True, they had different views about karuta, but they had been the first walls of Mizusawa's Karuta club, and it was because of the five of them that their High School was plucked from obscurity, having won almost every single group round for the past three years.

They had never really talked about anything that concerned things after High School. They had never decided to go to the University of Tokyo together. It had been but a few months before graduating did they all find out that they were actually going to the same college.

For some weird reason, it did not surprise Taichi. For the years they had spent studying, laughing, crying and playing karuta together, he had come to believe that there was unity in passion, and that verbal promises were not a necessity when it came to camaraderie. They were more than just a team; they had become _friends_.

Unlike any other college in Japan, the University of Tokyo, or Todai, as the students have been calling it for years, did not require their freshman and sophomore students to commit to a certain course immediately. Their first and second year, allotted for general education, was going to be spent in one of the five sub-campuses of the University, Komaba Campus, before they finally move on to further special fields of study. Two more years before they actually start to move on in their different career paths. Taichi knew that karuta was going to be a main event for the five of them in those couple of years.

He did not know if he should be happy or sad about that.

Taichi looked around their cramped club house and smiled at the other four in the tight circle they were in.

Komano Tsutomu, having graduated second only to Taichi in their batch, was looking down at his feet uncomfortably, as usual his eyes hidden behind his thick glasses. The first time he met the guy, he had been very antisocial, and that was a major understatement. Glued to his desk, he was Chihaya's classmate since first year. Smart, observant and very, very diligent in note-taking.

And here he was now, an A-class defensive karuta player with a scholarship from the Faculty of Political Science and Economics. They were proud of him. And he was proud of them.

Nishida Yuusei stood right beside him, as pudgy as ever, a half-eaten yakisoba sandwich in one hand. The guy was probably the only link Taichi had with the past when he and Chihaya were still exploring the world of karuta that Arata had opened up for them. It might have been pure coincidence – _destiny?_ – that he was also attending Mizusawa. For a brief moment, he had immersed himself in tennis after having been beaten by Arata in his younger days.

But no one, not even Nishida, could resist Chihaya's passion. One game with her and Nishida had left the tennis club on the spot.

Nishida's defensive karuta was probably what influenced Komano's style. For the past two years, Nishida had been strict with Komano, claiming that _'he had good game sense, but was too timid to attack.' _And so he drilled him good with _defense_.

Nishida had been accepted in the Faculty of Business, much to Taichi's surprise. When he had asked about it, Nishida said he was planning to start a business with his sister in the clothing industry after he graduated.

Oe Kanade was standing between Nishida and Chihaya. While Chihaya marveled on karuta as a game per se, Oe-san's strength lay on her genuine love for the Japanese culture itself. Taichi could only smile at her fondly. Oe-san's presence had been more than the voice of reason behind Chihaya's over-the-top personality; she had been the girl-friend that Chihaya's never had, because not many girls in their school understood even half of what she felt about karuta.

And in a sense, she had been the constant nudge Taichi needed once in a while when it came to Chihaya.

Oe Kanade had passed the entrance exam for the Faculty of Letters, and although they were not required to decide on the department and course they were going to major in, she was already committed to enter the Department of Literature and major in Japanese Literature and Culture.

And then there was Chihaya.

Oh, Chihaya.

The moment she had announced to them all, many different fluids streaming down her face as she cried, that she had passed the entrance exams for Todai, it was then that Taichi started to believe that she could do _anything_ with sheer will-power alone. Taichi knew that Chihaya was born with good ears, but he also knew that she was not born with _natural talent_. She was different from Wakamiya Shinobu.

Or Wataya Arata.

Maybe she came close to being like them. Close, but not quite.

But Chihaya was greedy, and she knew what she wanted. And greed and perseverance were a nasty combination.

Because it could either leave you over the moon when you got what you wanted, or completely devastated when you didn't.

With Komano's help, Chihaya had gotten miraculously good grades in her cram school tests, as well as her entrance examinations for Todai. But for the greedy Chihaya, it had been a big, very painful blow when she found out that she could not juggle karuta and studies together very well…

In their third year for the Queen and Master Tournament, Chihaya failed to steal the title from Wakamiya Shinobu because she had spent more of her time in studying for Todai. Or maybe it wasn't because of that at all. Maybe it really did just boil down to natural talent.

Chihaya had been crushed.

And Taichi knew her feelings ever so well. He knew what it felt like to chase after a dream so hard that you thought your heart was going to bleed from just wishing for it. The only difference was that Chihaya would give her one-thousand percent to achieve her goal, whereas Taichi was just that; a coward.

_You were always the coward…_

Taichi rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, trying to get rid of the sudden voice in his head. Arata was right. He had been right all along. Taichi had always been afraid of losing, and so he chose his battles well. And when he knew he was going to lose, he resorted to _cheating_, or _lying_.

"_You've grown quite a bit, Arata. How tall are you?"_

"_A hundred n' seventy-three centimeters." _

"… _What a coincidence. I'm also a hundred seventy three." _

"_Sure you aren't roundin'? You were always the coward, after all". _

Taichi sucked in a breath as Arata's deep Fukui drawl sounded in his mind. This was not the time to remember him. Not today. Not now.

"Hello, hello!" came a loud, cheery voice as the door to their clubhouse burst wide open to admit none other than Hanano Sumire, carrying a huge round cake covered in chocolate icing and candy sprinkles. She was followed by Tsukuba Akihiro who had a box of something in his arms.

A grade below them, Hanano-san and Tsukuba grinned at them as they wiped their shoes on the doormat before entering.

"Sumire-chan! Tsukuba-kun! What are you doing here?" Chihaya asked, genuinely surprised. The graduation ceremony had been over an hour ago, and majority of the lower classmen have gone home after saying their congratulations to the new graduates.

"Oh, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to give you all a farewell party. Because we, like, love you guys and all," Hanano-san said smugly, placing the cake in the middle of the long table they always used for meals.

For the past year, the once-spoiled Hanano Sumire had grown to love karuta pretty much the way Oe Kanade loved it, and that was being emotionally connected to the love poems each card represented. She had stopped growing her nails, and much to Taichi's – and everyone's – disbelief, she had also stopped putting on make-up.

"_It gets ruined when I sweat in a match," _she had said to them.

It was strange, because she had grown quite popular with the opposite sex when she had stopped trying too hard. She had received quite a number of love confessions for the past year, all of which she'd turned down.

And before anyone had realized it, she had reached C-class in a matter of three and a half months, and now stood at B-class after a very hard training session at Shiranami Karuta Society. Everyone had been pleasantly surprised; they had never thought she would have lasted this long.

Nishida licked his lips after eating the rest of his sandwich. He hovered over the cake. "Excellent. I'm getting the forks."

"I've brought some soda and disposable plates and cups," said Tsukuba as he smiled at them pleasantly, also depositing the box he was carrying on top of the table. As creepy and strange as ever, the guy had also made his way to B-class, and probably the only thing that was holding him back from moving up a rank was his over-confidence. But he was an aggressive offensive player, with nice game sense and an unbeatable side-sweep. He and Hanano-san were the only second-graders among other three who actually had a rank in their karuta club.

This year, they've had five first-years who had joined, and all of them were eager to succeed Chihaya and Taichi's footsteps for many different reasons, and the senior members of the club were confident to leave everything in Hanano-san and Tsukuba's hands.

Taichi gathered around the table with them, all the while running around in his head the things he had to do once he got home. His mother had been filming the graduation ceremony, and had hurried off because she had to pick up Taichi's little sister from school. She had been proud of him, having graduated at the top of his batch, but of course, she did not make such a big deal out of it. It was only normal, after all, for him to be _the best_.

"I can't believe you're all going to Todai," Hanano-san started as she distributed the paper plates around. "We're glad you're all staying in the same prefecture and all, but really, aren't you getting sick of seeing each other already?"

Komano raised an eyebrow over his glasses. "Actually, we're not." He turned to Oe-san. "I'm excited to see Todai's karuta society, aren't you? They might not be as strong as Osaka's, but they've been ranking quite fairly for the past five years."

Oe-san nodded. "With Chihaya-chan and the President enrolling, they wouldn't know the strong force that's going to join their ranks."

Chihaya gasped, gripping Oe-san's sleeve suddenly. "What are you talking about, Kana-chan. You, Tsukue-kun and Nikuman-kun are joining the club, too, right?"

"You can bet on it," Nishida said, returning from the back room with several mismatched silverware in one hand. "I bet they'd bench us for two to three semesters before they let us play in matches, though. Man, it feels weird to start from zero again."

Oe-san frowned. "We're not starting from zero, Nishida-kun. The President and Chihaya-chan are good enough to be Meijin and Queen if they didn't have other priorities. All of us here are A-class, too."

Taichi couldn't help but laugh ruefully. Honestly, he knew he was going to join karuta in University for the main reason that Chihaya was going to join as well.

Along with Arata.

Hanano-san caught his eye, as if sensing what he was thinking. Taichi looked away. She and Oe-san… girls were too sensitive when it came to these things. And they were too annoyingly accurate, too.

And always the trouble-maker, Hanano-san grinned as she started to cut the cake into equal pieces. "Ayase-senpai?"

Chihaya looked up from the chairs she was arranging around the tables to fit them all. "Hm?"

"Have you heard from Wataya-san?"

The silence that fell across the table was so deafening that Taichi wanted to scream.

Oe-san's mouth was hanging open, and she hurriedly snapped it shut. She shot a look at Taichi then whirled around to face Hanano-san. "Sumire-chan!"

This was getting out of hand, and Taichi knew it was his fault. He could see Komano shuffling his feet uneasily, Nishida scratching the back of his head, at a loss for words. Tsutomu was glaring at Hanano-san in disbelief.

And Chihaya…

Chihaya was smiling. She shook her head. "No. I've mailed him several times, asking about his move to Tokyo. But… "

Taichi pursed his lips. Chihaya was blushing. It did not suit her to be this quiet and stumped about a question from an underclassman. He gave Hanano-san a warning look, which she returned with equal heat.

"Let's eat cake," Nishida injected desperately, and Taichi knew it had nothing to do with his appetite.

"I don't think those kinds of questions should be asked in occasions like this," Tsukuba murmured as he pushed forward to sit on a chair. He shook his head at Hanano-san.

Hanano-san pouted, taking her place next to Tsukuba. "I didn't _mean_ anything behind it. It's just that Ayase-senpai and Mashima-senpai had done nothing but talk about it for the better part of the semester. Of _course_ I'm going to ask about him. Given, he's also a hunk. You should definitely let him wear blue. I mean, doesn't he have anything to wear other than black shirts?" She wriggled her eyebrows mischievously.

"Sumire-chan!" Oe-san cried in disgust.

Nishida helped himself with a piece of cake after sitting himself comfortably on his chair. "Well, he wouldn't look too hot in that Daddy Bear shirt Ayase sent him last Christmas."

"That Daddy Bear shirt was a limited edition Halloween giveaway. And it was _black_," Chihaya seethed, finally snapping out of her reverie, slamming her palms down on the table. No one messed with Daddy Bear and got away with it.

Taichi blinked. Chihaya had given Taichi a Snowmaru bath towel last Christmas. He had never asked her what she got Arata for a present. He tried to convince himself that he didn't care, but just now, he was wondering if Chihaya liked Daddy Bear more than she liked Snowmaru. And that said a lot, because Taichi _hated_ her Daddy Bear collection, and he would have killed her if she even thought of giving him anything related to the dumb-looking character.

But he could not help but wonder… If Snowmaru merchandise weighed as much as Daddy Bear…

Or towels and shirts for that matter…

Oe-san was watching him, and he cleared his throat. "Arata wears white sometimes. And he has blue hoodies. But who's keeping track of those?" Taichi said as he joined everyone in their chairs around the table.

Hanano-san started passing around their drinks. "That's good, then. Ayase-senpai should probably call him and tell him that Mashima-senpai keeps track of his wardrobe."

Everyone around the table laughed.

Everyone except Chihaya.

Taichi watched her stare at her lap for a few seconds before she slowly reached for her back pocket and slipped her mobile phone out. "You… think I should call him?"

That made Hanano-san cut her laughter abruptly along with everyone else. Her eyes darted from Taichi to Chihaya, then recovered quickly. "No, no! I was just making conversation, senpai! Come on, let's all raise our glasses for a toast – "

Everyone nearly jumped when Chihaya's mobile phone suddenly started ringing. Chihaya nearly dropped it on her plate.

Taichi narrowed his eyes, and he already knew who was calling from the reaction on Chihaya's face: she looked absolutely flustered.

And when Chihaya got flustered, she babbled a lot.

"O-o-o-ohh! It's Arata! Arata's calling! I… err… I have to – " and she was scrambling out of her seat, nearly tripping on her own two feet as she slid the large patio window open and stepped outside.

Everyone made a point to look at everything but Taichi.

And then Oe-san spoke, the way she always did when someone needed a few kind words. _"… but I cannot hide my secret love."_

Taichi's head shot up.

Nishida lowered his fork and stared at Taichi from across the table. "Mashima."

"What?" Taichi asked warily.

"Sometimes, in karuta, when we hear the first syllable of the poem, we move almost out of instinct to take the card, even if we don't know what the second syllable will be."

Taichi scowled. He was not about to get a public lecture in front of everyone about how he dealt with his affairs. "Yeah, so?"

"So," Komano suddenly said. "What he's saying – which probably mirrors what I want to say to you, too – is that we take chances. And sometimes we just have to leave the outcome to luck."

Taichi instantly froze. He knew that his friends were trying to cheer him up, and maybe cheer him on. They were not blind not to notice his feelings for her.

But there was just one big problem.

Taichi was never – _ever _– lucky.

Chihaya burst through the curtains of the patio window, her mobile phone pressed to her chest. Her eyes were big and bright and she was smiling.

"Taichi! Arata's train just pulled up at the Bubaigawara station! Oh my gosh!" she squealed. "H-he needs help with his luggage. His mother's with him. We should go!"

Oe-san bit her lower lip, her hands clenching under her chin.

Hanano-san and Tsukuba exchanged glances that he couldn't miss.

Nishida was suddenly very busy with his remaining cake.

Komano adjusted his glasses in a mannerism practiced only when in a pinch.

Taichi was never lucky at all.

_Dammit…_

He pushed back his chair, smiling at Chihaya broadly. "We should hurry up, then. It's been a while since we've seen Arata."

* * *

A/N: I am having Chihayafuru withdrawals. Waiting for the third season is going to be excruciating. Waiting for the manga to get updated is even worse. So I have nothing left but fanfiction to turn to… Boohoo!

Anyway, as I've said in my first chapter, I might make this into a multi-chapter story, and so I did. Since the manga is still not finished, you can consider this as an AU-ish fanfic. They have already graduated, Chihaya never became queen during her high school days, Arata is coming to Tokyo, and Taichi's never confessed his love for Chihaya.

Since the manga is still not finished, I couldn't really consider this as an after-story, though I'm wishing everything turns out good for Taichi and Chihaya canon-wise. But I am rooting for Arata to become Meijin.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

* * *

Three and a half-months ago, during the New Year holidays, on Chihaya's final Queen's Match as a High School senior, Taichi had been sick with the flu, and so Mizusawa's karuta club members had to go cheer Chihaya on without their president. Of course, Taichi had blamed it all on his bad, bad luck that he was not able to be there for Chihaya when he knew she needed all the support she needed.

He regretted it the most that he had not been able to be her shoulder to cry on when she had been defeated by Wakamiya Shinobu by a mere two-card difference.

However, in his sickbed, shivering and almost delirious with a forty-degree Celsius fever, he had watched the match on the television in his room. He couldn't remember how her game went, really. But he could remember Chihaya wearing an autumn-themed kimono and a red hakama. She had flowers in her hair, and a serious expression on her face the whole time, and he could vaguely recall her doing her best to steal the title from Shinobu, but all he could think of at that time was how absolutely _beautiful _she was to him.

And how absolutely handsome Arata looked in a black haori-hakama as he battled it out with Suou Hisashi.

It had been almost half a year since Taichi had actually seen Arata in person, and the television coverage of his Meijin match last New Year had failed to show it, but the boy had grown even taller than he remembered he was. Much to his dismay, he was probably taller than Taichi. Again. Taichi didn't know why it bothered him too much, but it did.

Arata was standing by the window of his new apartment, hooking up his lace curtains. His dark hair had grown significantly over the months they had not met, long enough to hide the temples of his glasses. He could easily be pushing to a hundred and eighty centimeters, with broad shoulders and fairly muscular arms.

Taichi was a hundred and seventy nine…

_Dammit. _

Arata looked over his shoulder after attaching the curtains. "Taichi, thanks again for pickin' us up at the station. Mum insisted on comin'. Wanted to see my apartment with her own eyes. Told her I'll be fine by m'self, but you know how mums can be."

Oh, he knew all right. He knew very well.

Taichi shrugged off-handedly. "It's nothing. I'm glad we can help out." He looked around the room in appreciation. "Nice place, by the way."

Arata's place was located at Ikenoue, which was a one station away from University. Coincidentally, it was also a station away from Komaba, where Taichi's mother had picked out a two-room LDK for him. Taichi had tried to convince her that he wouldn't necessarily need that much space and a dorm room right outside campus would be fine, but his mother just wouldn't hear of it.

"_Roommates are very hard to live with, Taichi,"_ she had said. _"They could be noisy, and unhygienic. You need a place where you can study in peace."_

Agreeing to her was the least he could do after turning down Harvard, Taichi had rationalized with himself. His mother got what she wanted majority of the time when it came with him, anyway. It was only with karuta did he put his foot down. She hadn't been happy with it then. Wait until she found out that Taichi sacrificed America because a girl who was bonkers over karuta was going to stay in Tokyo.

Arata walked over to his traveling bag sitting by the door of his room, took a peek at the living room, then gave Taichi a curious look. "They're still not back."

Taichi blinked away thoughts of his mother, then nodded. Mrs. Wataya had asked Chihaya to come with her to the nearest Daiso One Hundred Yen shop to gather a few supplies Arata needed for his place. Chihaya had been eager to go.

She was always so easy to read; she couldn't even look Arata directly in the eye since they had met in Bubaigawara, not to mention the fifteen-minute train ride to Ikenoue.

Arata had been oblivious of her awkwardness. That, or maybe he was just good at pretending like he did not notice her uneasiness.

"Girls can take hours in Daiso. It's a given," Taichi said, gesturing with a hand.

Arata bent down and dug into his bag, retrieving a box of something, which he threw over at Taichi, nearly catching him off-guard. "Souvenir from Fukui."

Taichi weighed the box in his hand, eyeing it suspiciously. "What is it?"

"Soba noodles. Fukui's famous for it."

Taichi grinned. "I'd have wanted Wakasa beef instead," he joked half-heartedly, looking down at the box.

Arata laughed, his deep voice echoing through the empty walls of his new apartment. "One of these days, 'kay? We have our years of college together. The three of us should go out and do a lot of catchin' up to do."

Taichi found himself biting the insides of his cheeks. Three of them. Taichi, Arata and Chihaya… Just like old times.

"_You and me and Arata. And we'll be a team again, Taichi! Just like old times!"_ Chihaya's voice rang through his mind.

He instantly felt the dread run through him, almost making him shiver. He gripped the box of soba tightly with both hands. "We should definitely do that."

And they were silent. Arata stood there looking at him, and Taichi couldn't help but look away. He wondered whatever happened to them. Taichi knew that Arata was aware of it, that unspoken, undefined _something_ existing like an invisible barrier between them.

And it was as if both of them were waiting for the other to break through that _something_.

"Taichi," Arata suddenly spoke, making Taichi jump.

"What?" he asked, looking up. Arata's dark eyes were still on him, mouth slightly open. Taichi suddenly noticed the ridiculously large logo smack on the front of the black shirt hiding under Arata's denim jacket.

It was a Daddy Bear shirt, with little ghosts floating around the Bear's head.

_"That Daddy Bear shirt was a limited edition Halloween giveaway. And it was __black__."_

And that was when Taichi knew. He didn't need to ask. That was why he wondered why he bothered asking anyway.

"You like Chihaya, don't you?"

Arata did not so much as blink at his question. He slowly closed his mouth, thin-lipped. His brow furrowed. "Yeah."

The big, freaking elephant in the room suddenly got even bigger. And it was all his bloody fault.

_Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit!_

He sucked in a breath, once, twice. It was like trying to calm himself down before a karuta match. He had expected Arata to deny it, to blush and shake his head and say no. He did not expect him to admit it with that poker face of his as if he had been asked about the weather.

Taichi laughed hollowly, tapping the soba box on his knee. "I figured as much."

Arata blinked twice, then gestured at him. "You like her, too."

It was not a question. It was a statement. Or an accusation.

Taichi took a deep breath, looked at him pointedly but did not say anything.

And that was when Arata finally had the decency to blush. "I kinda knew that."

Taichi scratched the bridge of his nose with a thumb, suddenly feeling like things weren't getting any better the more they prod on with the issue. "Why did you come back to Tokyo?"

Another long pause, then, "I came for her." He cleared his throat, then, "Along with many other reasons."

It was strange. In normal circumstances, Taichi couldn't have found the humor in all this, but it was just so funny.

It was so funny he could just cry.

He's had her at arms' length for three whole years without Arata, but all the while Chihaya had never even looked his way. There had been instances – very subtle ones, but instances all the same – when he thought there could have been a chance for them to be more than just what they were now. He had denied whatever everyone accused him of having for her, covering up the truth about his feelings because he was, once again, a coward who did nothing but run away from everything he thought would disrupt the balance of his perfect life.

He knew Chihaya's feelings for Arata, even when Chihaya herself did not know about it. She had always been so naïve about these things, saw only the cards lain before her. This was probably the only reason that had kept him away, the possibility of her turning him down because she was in love with someone else.

What hurt the most in this situation was the fact that Taichi could not _hate_ Arata for winning Chihaya's attention without even batting an eyelash. It would have been easier if he despised him, if he could just grab him around the collar, shake him roughly and tell him, _"Chihaya is mine. Stay away!" _But he couldn't. He still did not hate Arata for being the one hundred and first obstacle standing between him and Chihaya.

After all, they already had an understanding that Chihaya did not belong to anyone.

And when someone did not belong to anyone, then that someone was undeniably up for grabs.

"Did you tell her? What you feel, I mean?" Arata asked, suddenly looking out of place in his Daddy Bear shirt in that empty apartment.

That was the eternal question, wasn't it? He shook his head. "No. I…" He tried to search for the words to say. He couldn't find any. "Just… no."

Arata straightened, rolling back his shoulders and raising his chin up, the light from the window reflecting on his glasses. "Taichi."

Taichi exhaled sharply, not realizing he was holding his breath. "Yeah?"

"When I came here to Tokyo, I was the odd-one-out. I had holes in my socks, wore the same shirt two days in a row, and I talked different. I had to wake up early to deliver newspapers to help my parents with the bills. Amidst all of that, she was nice to me. She defended me in front of the girls in the class who made fun of my accent, and she stood up for me in front of the cool kids, most 'specially in front of bullies like you," Arata said in that low voice of his.

Taichi knew he was simply relaying what had happened back in elementary, but Taichi could not help but feel his ears go red at the mere memory of how he was in the past. "Yeah, Chihaya's always been like that."

"I knew I was down for a crush then. I didn't care about her looks, though I'd always thought she was pretty. And she was… well… She was nice to me."

"I know."

"But I knew that I was in love with her the moment she snatched her first ever card from right under my nose. And I could never look at the '_Chihaya' _card the same way again."

Taichi nearly blanched at what Arata had just said. He dropped the box of soba noodles unconsciously, and it made a loud sound as it hit the floor, missing his foot by inches. He stared wide-eyed at him.

Arata loved Chihaya.

Arata. Loved. Chihaya.

_He was in love with her…_

Arata looked unfazed, though his cheeks were red, and a bit of sweat had popped on his forehead. "I… wanted to let you know that. Because I know you feel the same. But it was Chihaya who brought us together, Taichi. I don't want her to be the reason for us to fall apart." He took a tentative step towards Taichi, a couple of strides before bending to pick up the soba noodles he dropped.

Taichi nearly backed away when Arata straightened up and handed the box back to him, which he gingerly accepted. He laughed hoarsely, trying his best to control the undefined emotion bubbling up his gut. "What are you talking about? We're friends. We're not going to fall apart beca – "

"We might," he interrupted. "Taichi, I'm plannin' to tell her what I feel. I don't know when. Maybe when I fin'lly get the courage to do so. I have all four years of college, unless someone else steps in the way." Arata gave him a pointed look. "Look, what I'm tryin' to say is that… well… err… "

Taichi could practically hear his ears ringing, so loud they nearly drowned out Arata's babbling. He was going to be stuck in college with Arata and Chihaya, who obviously had mutual feelings for each other. He was going to be stuck with them for four years, and he was going to get his heart broken each and every day for one thousand four-hundred and sixty days every time he saw them together, playing, studying, eating lunch together…

For a split second, he wondered why he even turned down Harvard. By sophomore year in High School, he already knew Arata was coming. He should have written it off then and there.

" – chi? Taichi, are you listenin' to me?" Arata's voice ripped through his subconscious.

Taichi's head shot up. "What?" he snapped.

"I was sayin': let the best man win."

Taichi blinked, paused, then shook his head. "What? No. Just, no. I don't even know why you're telling me this." He pushed past Arata, who followed him out to the living room in confusion.

"You mean you're not even goin' to tell her?" he asked incredulously.

Taichi could only shake his head more.

Arata's mouth thinned again grimly. "A coward. Yeah, that's what you are."

Taichi stopped in his tracks, for a moment tried to contemplate on what Arata had just said to him, then whirled around to face him. "What are you on to? You should be happy-dancing around this room right now. I'm practically giving you the floor."

Though his heart was breaking into a million pieces as he spoke.

"No, you're not. You're just runnin' away, like you always do. _You and me_, it's always been you and me on either side of Chihaya. Back in elementary, it was all us. We lost track of each other for a year, but we got back together. We're _older _now. I think it's about time we think about this as adults. It can't always be the three of us. And I don't want to win this by default 'cause you're too _chicken_ to face this and forfeit."

Taichi watched as Arata stepped towards him, so near he could see the blue-black specks in his eyes. Arata was daring him, egging him on, to take on his challenge on something he had but a measly chance to win.

And Taichi… Taichi didn't know what got into him, considering he had all the odds against him.

_Oh, what the hey…_

"That shirt looks so gay on you," he said.

For a split second, Arata looked shocked, but he recovered quickly, smirked. "This time 'round, I hope you don't steal my glasses."

Taichi sneered at him, eyed him up, then down.

_Oh, what the freaking hey…_

"How tall are you?" Taichi asked.

"A hundred and seventy nine. You?"

_May the best man win, he said. Dammit… _

He knew he was in for a heartache.

"What a coincidence. Me, too."

* * *

_**A/N: To my readers, thank you so much for your reviews. The Chihayafuru fandom is so small, but I'm so glad to find people who actually share my thoughts about this pairing.**_

_**The story would probably run a good ten to fifteen chapters, but I'm not sure yet. I'll update when I can, when inspiration hits me, but I've got the story roughly plotted out already. Prepare for a lot of feels. I'm a sucker for heart-wrenching drama.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**IV**

* * *

It had been three weeks since Arata had move back to Tokyo, and Taichi was beginning to think it strange, really. Arata had said, _"May the best man win"._ Big words, big words. Taichi had accepted the call. Big move, big move.

Big things from two _'adult' _males who had just told each other that they liked the same girl. Or rather, Arata had told him he _'loved' _her, whereas Taichi merely did not deny nor acknowledge what he really felt for her.

The funny part about it, however, was that they had practically declared each other love rivals, but they had been avoiding Chihaya like she had leprosy ever since their man-to-man talk.

For the past week, Taichi had been busy with his college schedule, planning out the best way he could squeeze in as many units to get along with graduating as fast as he possibly could. There was no use in prolonging what could be the worst self-inflicted torture he had gotten himself into since immersing himself in karuta.

He had moved into his new apartment right after he had settled with his parents that he wanted to get the hang of the place before the semester started. His mother had grudgingly agreed. His sister had been cranky about him moving away, as little sisters usually were when subjected to change. And his father… well… his father had been indifferent as always. So by the end of the first week of March, Taichi had packed his things and left the house for Komaba.

He had surprised himself with how calm and collected he had been when emptying the room he had been living in all his life. He had carried with him all the essentials, and it never even crossed his mind to crack open the door of the small room where his mother had stored all of his trophies, medals and certificates of all the sports events and tournaments he had joined because his mother had wanted him to _'learn'_ many things.

What surprised him the most was that he had packed all the medals and certificates he had won through the three years he had played karuta into a small box and carried it with him to his new place. He never took them out, however, and it now sat under his bed for a reason he wasn't really sure of himself.

All the while during those three weeks, Chihaya had been calling him on the phone like she were some deranged stalker, leaving creepy messages in his mail box like, _"I know where you live, and I know that you keep your piggy bank in a little nook in your underwear drawer. If you do not pick up your phone, I will break into your apartment and steal all your money even if I have to dig through your disgusting underpants."_

Most of the time, she would leave voice messages on his mobile phone's answering directory saying things like, _"Taichi! Why on earth are you avoiding me? Kana-chan and the rest are thinking of getting together this weekend for some practice at the old clubhouse. Sumire-chan and Tsukuba-kun are going to be there, too." _Those were some of her rational messages. By week two, she had gotten tired of being rational and started leaving voice messages of her screaming, _"Taichi!" _over and over again until the machine cut her off.

Because of this, Nishida and the rest had started to get worried about him. Komano had dropped by twice already, pretending to ask about the units he was planning to take in the semester, all the while hoping that Taichi would open up to him. Because Komano was just naturally passive, he hadn't asked Taichi openly about what was happening, but Taichi had a feeling Komano already knew what was going on.

"_Ayase-san has been in a pretty bad mood lately. You aren't answering her calls, and it looks like Wataya-san isn't speaking to her, either. Did something happen?" _he had asked, to which Taichi replied, _"I'm sure Arata's busy with preparing for college, like me."_

After that Komano hadn't brought it up again, and instead focused more on the subjects they planned to take together, but Taichi could still feel the boy glaring at him from behind his glasses when he thought Taichi wasn't looking.

During the evenings, Taichi had settled on getting his dinners at the Seven-Eleven down the road in the forms of sandwiches and meat buns, depending on his mood. And Nishida, who had also moved into the men's dorms right outside Todai, was his constant companion as he sat on the sidewalk in front of the convenience store with his food and a large orange juice.

Nishida had been more direct with him.

"_Avoiding Ayase won't change the fact that you're scared to death of having her taken away from you by a friend you can't even hate," _Nishida had said to him one evening over yakisoba sandwiches. _"But when the Chihaya card is read, you don't _hesitate_. No. you _pounce _on it. You take it at the _'Chi'. _The one who hesitates loses. End of story."_

Actually, Taichi was starting to get sick of karuta metaphors when it came to his love life. Unfortunately, he had to deal with it almost every night on the sidewalk with Nishida as they shared dinner. And Taichi could not get mad at him because he knew the boy was merely looking out for him.

The easiest one to have around would probably be Oe-san, who remarkably did not try to shove into his face what she thought about the subject but instead waited patiently for him to open up. Most of the time they spent together was on Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons when there would be poetry reading in Todai's library. It had been Oe-san who had invited him to go. Taichi had surprised himself by accepting the invitation, but was glad to find that spending time with the timid girl contributed a lot to his peace of mind, especially when it came to Chihaya.

He had learned from Oe-san that Chihaya was going to take residence in the women's dormitories in the campus outskirts.

"_She'll be moving by the end of March," _Oe-san had confided, then in a hesitant voice added, _"She's going to need help with moving stuff into her new room…" _She did not say anything more, but Taichi knew that she was hinting on something.

And it did not surprise Taichi, when the latter days of March rolled in, when Chihaya suddenly appeared at his doorstep, nearly ready to burst into tears and hiding behind a box of Mister Donut.

She was in her usual t-shirt and sweats, peering up at him forlornly from under those long lashes of hers.

"Chihaya? What – ?"

"I'm sorry!" she suddenly blurted out, shoving the box of donuts into his chest so hard he nearly fell backwards.

"Sorry for what?" Taichi asked as he accepted the donuts, in all honesty confused by what was happening. It had been three weeks since he had last seen her, and whatever overwhelmingly pleasant feeling that should be taking over his body right now was drowned away by the fear that she could cry at any second now.

"I don't know! But whatever I did must have made you really mad, so I'm sorry! Please don't avoid me anymore," she begged loudly, a single tear trickling down her cheek.

Taichi felt all the blood rush up to his ears. He pushed Chihaya back to peek out of the door, checking if his neighbors had been disturbed by Chihaya's outburst. He sighed in relief when he found the hallway still empty of complaining people and gestured for Chihaya to come in. "You're making a scene. And your nose is dripping."

Chihaya wiped her nose with her shirt sleeve as she obediently entered his apartment. "But you were avoiding me…"

"I was not avoiding you," he lied.

"You weren't answering my calls!"

"I was busy…" he lied again.

"Or my texts…!"

"I told you – "

"_For three whole weeks!"_ she bawled.

Taichi scratched the back of his head, feeling guilty. He looked down at the box of donuts in one hand, then sighed. "Look. Let's have some coffee with this, okay?"

Chihaya sniffed, nodded. She started to remove her shoes. "I get to have the golden sprinkles… You don't get to have them because you've been avoiding me. You get the not very tasty glazed ones."

"I thought this was a peace offering."

She sniffed again, her chin dimpling. "I still want the golden sprinkles."

"Whatever. Don't be such a crybaby," Taichi muttered as he led her to his dining room, right now unable to believe that he was actually madly in love with this crazy woman who had mucus running down her nose. "Stop crying already."

"I am not crying," she denied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

Taichi rolled his eyes. "Sit down, make yourself at home," he said as he gestured towards the dining room. "I'm just going to make coffee."

It did not take long for Chihaya to recover from her bout and she was already crawling everywhere, on everything she thought interesting in his new home, saying, "I can't believe you didn't bring your Xbox with you!" or, "You have a coffee maker with you? Isn't it better to just use instant? Saves electricity, too. Oh, I forget. You're rich. Life is so unfair."

Taichi had answered her questions from the kitchen with the patience of a saint, most of the time having to shout out to her because she would not remain in one room for longer than a minute. All the while he tried to ignore the fact that Chihaya was in his apartment, wearing nothing but a shirt and sweats, looking casual as can be as if…

_As if she were in her own home. _

He pushed the thought away. This was the exact reason why he didn't want to see her. He knew he couldn't trust himself with being alone with her. Back in high school he had caught himself in many instances, trying to hold her hand. Back in Fukui. In the train on the way home from club practice while she slept leaning on his shoulder. There had been times when he had come close to taking advantage of her naiveté, asking her out to go on a trip and using karuta as an excuse. She was too quick in saying yes, though her financial handicap had always stopped her from coming anyway.

It annoyed him, her innocence. At the same time it saved him the trouble of losing face in front of her. One of these days, his half-baked advances were going to be the death of him.

Taichi looked up from the two mugs of coffee he had prepared, only to find Chihaya nowhere in the dining room or the living room. He groaned, set the mugs on the table and went to look for her.

His breath caught in his throat when he found her in his bedroom, lying down on her belly in the middle of his bed, shamelessly flipping through a photo album.

Taichi leaned against the doorframe, fighting down the urge to scream.

And the urge to jump her.

"What did I tell you about walking into boys' rooms?" he asked in resignation.

She looked over her shoulder at him, then turned back at the photo album. "I didn't know you kept our tournaments documented, Taichi."

"I didn't. My mom took those…" Taichi said weakly. He couldn't believe it himself when his mother had started attending his tournaments in his third year of high school. She had been as strict as always, but somewhere along the way, Taichi had started not to care. She had made an album of his team's matches.

Chihaya frowned. "I don't have any pictures at all…"

_That's because my mom doesn't like you. _

"Taking pictures of you is too hard to do; you move too fast," Taichi said, covering his eyes tiredly.

His explanation seemed to convince her, because she was always so very easy to convince her when it came to _anything_.

"It was a fun, fun year, wasn't it?" she said dreamily, leaning her chin down on her knuckles, eyes still fixed on the album.

Taichi let out his breath in a huff. "Get out of my bed, Chihaya."

She paused, looked back at him and closed the album with a snap. She studied him from that distance, like someone who was looking at a person she had never seen before.

"Come over here," she suddenly said, rolling over and sitting up. She patted the space beside her.

Taichi took an involuntary step back, the warning sirens sounding at the back of his head. "No. The coffee's ready."

She smiled weakly and patted the bed again. "Come on."

"No."

The smile vanished from her face, then she fell flat on her back again on his pillows.

Taichi groaned, looked over his own shoulder, wanting nothing more than to run the opposite direction. Thinking that Chihaya will not remove herself from his bedroom if he did not do what she wanted, he dragged his feet towards her and dropped on the bed, his back to her. "What is it?"

He felt a hand on his back as Chihaya grabbed at his shirt. He could practically feel his skin prickling where she was touching him.

"Do you hate me, Taichi? Did I do something wrong that made you avoid me?" she asked quietly.

Taichi bit his lower lip as he tried to find a good enough lie she would believe instantly so that she could let go of his freaking shirt, get out of his freaking bed and out of his freaking bedroom before he did something he was going to regret for the rest of his freaking life.

"I can never hate you. I was just busy, with preparations and all."

The hand on his shirt tightened. "We haven't played karuta together in a while now… and… well… I just thought… you know…"

Actually, Taichi _did _know. He knew exactly where this conversation was going. He lowered himself down on the bed, his head gently resting right on Chihaya's stomach. Her hand that was gripping at his shirt earlier landed on his forehead, her pinky finger twirling a bit of his hair absentmindedly.

"Arata's been avoiding me, too…" she suddenly said under her breath.

Taichi closed his eyes, the slight burning in his stomach dying a bit. "He has things he needs to fix. He just got here. It's barely been a month, you know. Give it time."

"I know… I just thought that things would go back the way it used to be when it was… when it was just the three of us. I mean, I know that's impossible. But it's like we're finally _this_ close to each other, but I've never felt this lonely." She sounded so sad and Taichi could only lie there on her stomach with his eyes closed.

Deep down, he knew it would be easier to just tell it straight out to her that he and Arata loved her, and that was probably the main reason why Arata was avoiding her too. Actually, right now he thought the situation called for him to just confess to her.

_Before Arata did. _

And at that moment, a vision of two boys in an old classroom flashed before his eyes. One was crying as he held out a pair of glasses to the other one who was squinting up at him in disbelief.

"_Please don't tell Chihaya about this…"_

Taichi's eyes snapped wide open.

"_May the best man win."_

"Chihaya," Taichi started, looking over at her slowly.

"Yeah?"

"If you don't get your butt out of my bed, I will devour each and every golden sprinkled donut you brought for me. I mean it."

Chihaya was bouncing out of bed so fast that Taichi fell to the floor on his behind.

"In your sugar-glazed donut dreams, Taichi!" she screamed, darting out of his bedroom in a blink of an eye.

Taichi sat on the floor, staring after her in surrender. Here he was again, trying to get a step ahead when it came to her. And there was Arata, unknowingly giving Chihaya enough space so she could decide for herself. Taichi tried to rationalize that he did not lure Chihaya over to his place to bring him donuts, nor did he scheme to get her in his bed, which sounded so wrong in so many different levels.

He dropped his head onto his knees. He had this opportunity, this heaven-sent opportunity to tell her how he felt about her. And for some weird reason he was being held back by a memory of something that could be the biggest regret he's ever done in his life.

And then and there, he already knew.

"Taichi! I'm licking all the golden sprinkles so you can't have them! Ha-ha!"

Taichi allowed himself to slide lower into the floor, draping an arm over his eyes.

He was royally, royally screwed…

"Oh, and Taichi?"

"What?" he growled, not moving from his place on the floor.

"I'm moving into my dorm room tomorrow. Can you help me lug around stuff? I'll give you one golden sprinkled donut for it."

Taichi paused, then said, "I thought you already licked all of them."

"Oh, crap…" he heard Chihaya curse.

Taichi sighed. "Sure. Whatever. I'll help."

"Yay!" Chihaya cheered.

Taichi reached for his back pocket and slowly flipped out his mobile phone. One extra pair of hands wouldn't hurt when you needed to _'lug stuff around'_.

"Hello, Arata? Yeah, it's Taichi. Listen, are you free tomorrow?"

Royally screwed, indeed…

* * *

**_A/N: One of the greater things about Chihaya and Taichi's relationship is that while they look good together as a couple, they look absolutely adorable as friends, too. I could remember Taichi flicking at Chihaya's forehead for giving crazy speeches, or kicking each other in the train on the way to Fukui, or having Chihaya lying down right next to Taichi on the tatami mat while he slept, or having Chihaya rest Taichi's head on her shoulder in the car because he was hitting his forehead on the window. Small, intimate moments that could either be totally romantic, or totally sweet depending on the angle from where you look at them. Call me crazy, but I just love little details like that._**

**_Appreciation to those who read and reviewed. Till next chapter!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**V**

* * *

Before the term even began, rumors had already started to circulate among the freshmen about many, many things concerning the start of the semester. One of those rumors concerned the Chinese chef in the campus cafeteria and his eccentric choices when it came to the ingredients he used for Wednesday's mystery stew. Apparently, a senior last school year had fished out what suspiciously looked like a whole, intact chicken foot from his bowl, creating quite an uproar in the cafeteria.

Other rumors that had started to gain momentum were the likely 'haunted' places within Todai's grounds, particularly the auditorium's backstage where one could hear a young girl crying in the night when the moon was full. Some of the upperclassmen would be telling their kouhai to avoid the place at all costs, because bad things happen when you linger in the auditorium at night.

There were other hodgepodges of more rumors as well as facts among them, but there were some – _three_, exactly – that had been favorites among the many, many hearsays floating about.

One of those was the enrollment of the fashion model, Ayase Chitose's younger sister to study within the Faculty of Letters. Not only that, but said younger sister was also drop-dead gorgeous. Most of the buzzing excitement came from the male population of freshmen that year, but some of the girls were looking forward to meeting her, because rumor has it, she was also going to be residing in the dorms outside campus.

Another of those favorites was that Mashima Taichi, the enrollee who had topped the entrance exams that semester, was not only smart, but was a major, _major _hottie. There was a commotion in the Sports department since _'Mashima'_ was a name that most of the soccer coaches remembered back when Taichi was still in Middle School because he had been a stand-out in his batch. They had been shocked when he had fallen out of the radar when he reached his first year of high school. They did not know that the boy had started following a different calling.

And last but not the least, news that the grandson of the Karuta Meijin, Wataya Hajime was also coming to study in Todai, transferring all the way from Fukui. The Cultural Arts Department of the Faculty of Letters could barely contain their excitement. That, and the fact that the young Wataya had grown to be quite pleasing to the eye was also one of the things the female population of the Faculty of Letters was looking forward to.

What with word about the three of them spreading through different parts of campus, almost everyone had been shocked to find them together one day, carrying boxes and traveling bags and, strangely, huge, ugly-looking bears up to the third floor of the Women's dorms a week before classes started.

It was raining that day, much to Taichi's dismay, and they had to carry Chihaya's belongings into the dorm building wrapped in plastic sheets while wrestling with umbrellas. Chihaya had been quite noisy about her Daddy Bear collection, saying, "Taichi! You're getting his feet wet!" or, "Arata, please don't carry him upside-down…"

While Taichi had always been used to Chihaya's airhead requests and undeniable love for Daddy Bear, it was different with Arata. There had been times when Arata would try to catch Taichi's eye, and would smile and tilt his head to the side as if to say, _"When she finds an addiction, she'd stick to it like glue, eh?"_ And Taichi could only agree.

They finished moving Chihaya's stuff while trying to ignore all the stares thrown their way. It wasn't as if Taichi was new when it came to stares. He was not as dense as Chihaya, who did not notice all the guys double-taking every time she passed by.

Of course, the love letters stacked into his shoe locker every day by the dozen back in High School was a clue that he was quite popular with the opposite sex. While any normal, warm-blooded male would have thought this as an asset, Taichi had found it entirely bothersome and very, very tiring.

Returning those love letters had been the most difficult of all, considering he did not want the rest of his karuta members finding out that he was doing it behind their backs. Ever since they had reacted quite strongly when he had broken up with the girlfriend he didn't even bother to tell them about, he had been sure that anything that had to do with romance was something they were not going to let pass.

That, and for some weird reason, he did not want Chihaya to find out he had a number of admirers, though he wasn't sure how she would react _if _she ever did find out.

Chihaya had little experience when it came to romance. Back in high school, someone had tried to hit on her on her way to school – a guy from a different high school – and she had willingly exchanged email addresses and phone numbers with him, claiming that it was the first time someone's ever asked her out and that she was afraid that it would never happen again. Of course, Taichi had dealt with it accordingly: he had blocked the number of the idiot and made Chihaya wake up earlier than usual so that they could go to school together. Chihaya hadn't questioned his motives, because Chihaya was Chihaya.

No one had dared come close to her again after that incident, and he was secretly glad of that. Honestly, he did not think anyone who did not understand the world of karuta would be able to understand Chihaya the way she would want to be understood. But of course, that was just Taichi being Taichi.

He was such a sneak. He knew he was just trying to rationalize that Chihaya would be better off with people who understood her passion because _he _also played karuta.

But with that said, wouldn't Arata have the upper hand if they would base Chihaya's possible love life to the game?

_Damn it all…_

He didn't even want to think about that…

"Wow, it's raining cats and dogs out there," Chihaya mused as she handed Taichi a towel.

Taichi was sitting on the floor, looking out of the window of Chihaya's new dorm room. "I'm glad we're able to get everything up here before this downpour." He frowned at Chihaya, accepting the towel. "Of all the days you have to pick, it had to be on a rainy day. Don't you even watch the weather report?"

Chihaya laughed weakly, scratching her head. "Sorry. My sister was on a quiz show last night, and the family didn't care about anything else on TV."

Taichi could only shake his head before briskly drying his hair. Chihaya did not especially have a lot of luggage she wanted moved into her dorm room, but what with the weather and… well… the _tension _between the three of them, Taichi couldn't help but feel entirely drained.

First off, Chihaya had been shocked but at the same time pleased when Arata had appeared at her doorstep with Taichi. When she had gotten over the shock, she had flung herself at Arata and bawled her eyes out, saying, "Don't avoid me again! I don't know what I did or what it is you didn't like, but I swear I'll never do it again! I promise!"

That was when Taichi had found out that it wasn't just him whom Chihaya had called and mailed to for the past three weeks. He should have known, though. Chihaya's tendencies of becoming a stalker had started showing back in high school when she had learned of Arata's address and phone number, sending the guy emails several times a day, especially on karuta tournaments.

Oh, but come to think of it, Chihaya had stalked almost everyone in the karuta club at one point in their life to convince them to join. She had followed Oe-san around for days, even out of campus when the girl was in her shift in their family business. She had tried to bribe Komano with jam-filled bread and hovered around him in class like an annoying fly for a week only to drag him forcefully back to their clubhouse to watch how they play. Nishida hadn't been an exception, either. Chihaya had tackled, assaulted and chased the boy around all over campus just to get him to play karuta again.

But of course, she had never been as dedicated when it came to Arata. Admittedly, Taichi had felt extremely jealous of it, but strangely enough, Arata had kept communications open with Taichi more than he did with Chihaya for the past three years.

Perhaps even then, they already had that unwritten rule that Chihaya really did not belong to either of them.

So why on _earth _had they decided that _that_ rule had to change just because Arata was back?

Or were the rules changing _because _he was back?

Taichi had monopolized Chihaya for the whole three years of high school. Could it be that Taichi just couldn't stand the competition after all those times when he had started to believe that she could possibly be _his_?

Taichi frowned. No. He was no longer the naïve, cheating little boy who couldn't stand losing to a transferee student that he would stoop so low as to steal his glasses. And he knew he had as much to offer to Chihaya as Arata did.

_Then what was the problem? _

The problem stepped out of the bathroom, a towel thrown over his head, his glasses dotted with water splashes. He was once again in a black t-shirt and jeans, his usual attire.

"Thanks for today, Arata," Chihaya said as she bent down to look at the boxes at her feet as if looking for something.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Today's just as good as any other day," Arata assured her, pulling the towel down to his shoulders as he sat beside Taichi on the floor. He had a huge chunk of hair standing up on end, which Chihaya brushed back down absent-mindedly as she passed behind him, continuing her search for whatever it was she was looking for.

"I'm boiling water for some tea. It'll only be a second. Ah, there it is," Chihaya declared happily as she pulled a box towards her. "I think the cups are in here…"

Taichi watched Chihaya hurriedly rip through the plastic wrap, digging through the newspapers in it to retrieve three glass cups. Beside him, he could see Arata watching her also, and for a brief moment their eyes met, and Arata gave him a small smile.

Taichi blinked, surprised. It had been almost a month since they've seen each other. He wondered what it was that had made Taichi call for his help for today's move when he could have used the time to once again have Chihaya all to himself. He was starting to wonder if he was trying too hard to _'play fair'_, thinking that it would only be worth _'fighting for'_ if it were on equal ground.

Or maybe he had always dragged the memory of stolen glasses with him, along with the guilt, the very, very bad feeling and the embarrassment along with it, for having lost even after cheating, and for trying so hard to get ahead of everyone else by himself, but never really getting there.

Arata had always been ahead. So very, very far ahead…

Taichi didn't even know what made him think he could win. He was never lucky in karuta. Not in love, either. Skill was another thing. And he didn't think he had _that_, either.

He nearly jumped when his mobile phone began to ring. He slipped it out of his pocket, stared at the screen and was surprised to see Hanano Sumire calling him.

It wasn't often did he get calls from the new karuta club president, and ninety percent of those calls were about the procedures to be followed when it came to registrations and tournament schedules within the prefecture as well as schedules outside of Tokyo. Given the season, Taichi could only assume that the girl was searching for a B-class win to advance to the next level.

Taichi pushed himself up and made his way to the door. "Sorry, I have to take this call."

Chihaya looked up at him as he passed by. "Who is it?"

Taichi stopped in his tracks, stared down at Chihaya with eyes wide with surprise. "It's Hanano-san." It was strange. Chihaya had never really shown interest in his private matters, and being asked who was calling him was the first time she had shown curiosity about things like these. It was slightly disturbing, really. Arata was watching them from his place on the floor.

Chihaya brightened immediately. "Tell her I said hi!" And she was back to rummaging inside her box.

Taichi felt his lips tighten grimly as he caught Arata's eye once more. He picked up the phone just as he stepped out Chihaya's room, closing the door behind him.

"Hello?"

"_Mashima-senpai? Good afternoon. Did I catch you on a bad time?" _Hanano-san's voice crackled through the earpiece.

"No. It's all right. What's up?"

"_This is kind of embarrassing. I should have just called a repairman for this instead of you."_

"Is something wrong?" Taichi asked, straightening up at the sound of her voice. The girl was almost always composed when she called. Right now, she sounded a bit hassled.

"_The roof of the clubhouse is leaking like crazy, and it looks like it's going to rain all day. The band's equipment in the second floor's pretty messed up, but nothing a good wiping wouldn't fix. I've already contacted their president, and he's on his way, but the water found its way to our room, and the tatami mats are completely soaked."_

Taichi ran a hand through his hair in disbelief. "Seriously? Have you contacted Miyauchi-sensei?" he asked, thought for a second, then added, "Wait a minute. What on earth are you doing in school? Classes don't start until next week."

"_I wanted to clean up before the club gets too caught up in tournaments and practices. I'm glad I came, though. I've set up buckets on the second floor to prevent further damage, but I can't do anything alone with these tatami mats. I was wondering if you would know who to inform when things like these happen. A number would be appreciated. I'd have called Oe-senpai since I know she knows a lot about these things, but she'd freak if she finds out what happened to the tatami mats. You know how she is. I'm really sorry to bother you."_

"No. It's no bother. I'll get back to you as soon as I look up the number of the tatami specialist in Akihabara. In the meantime, call sensei and tell her what's happened. You should probably call Tsukuba to help you out to clear the other furniture. How are the cards?"

"_The cards are fine. I've stored them inside the higher cabinets before the break started. There's a puddle in the middle of the room, though."_ She laughed at the other end of the line. _"This sucks."_

"Yeah. I know. I'm glad you're there."

"_So am I. Anyway, I'll call Tsukuba-kun and sensei, like you said, Mashima-senpai. Thanks again."_

"You're welcome. I'll get back to you as soon as I can." Taichi snapped his phone shut and sighed. Of all the things to happen before the school year started, it had to be this. He turned around and opened the door.

And stopped on his tracks, the door cracked open enough to see Chihaya sitting beside Arata on the floor, both of them looking out the window in silence.

It wasn't till then did Taichi realize it, how Arata had grown in comparison to Chihaya, who had always been relatively tall for a girl. Then again, there weren't many opportunities for him to see Chihaya and Arata side by side like this. It was strange, but memories of him, Arata and Chihaya when they were young flashed before his mind's eye. They had always been together then. It had been a friendship built on a game, and he wondered then – and wondered even until now – how karuta could do so much for them in a span of a few sessions and one team match.

It would have been more natural if they had just fallen out of the groove after elementary.

Once again, it all boiled down to Chihaya…

"Sorry you had to do this in the rain," Chihaya suddenly said quietly, breaking their silence.

Arata let out a laugh. "I don't mind. I've always liked rain." He paused for a bit, cleared his throat then said, "It was rainin' that day."

Chihaya turned to face him. "When?"

Arata shifted in his place, leaning back on his hands. "You were standin' outside your house in a raincoat and umbrella. I delivered your newspaper, and you snatched it from me so fast I didn't know what was happenin'. It was the day we became friends. Yes?"

Taichi felt something bubble up his gut, and the hand gripping the doorknob tightened. Arata was going to do it. He was going to tell her.

_Oh, gods… He's going to tell her…!_

Chihaya giggled. "Yeah, you're right. Wow, it feels like it's been ages."

"And it was rainin' that day, too. When you first came over."

Chihaya's giggle died down, and she pulled her knees towards her chest, hugging them to her. "It was raining. I remember that, too."

"Our first match together was 'n a rainy day, Chihaya. In a small, dingy apartment, with a cassette tape for a reader. And you took the Chihaya card with your left hand from right under my nose. And you looked so very, very happy."

"That's because I _was_ happy," Chihaya said, resting her chin on her knees. "It was the day when I thought, _'I think I found a calling.'_ And I had you to thank."

Arata was silent for a long time, and for that moment, Taichi could only hear the rain against the building. The sound of the people walking through the hallway, staring at him, of the girls whispering how attractive he looked, of the slamming of doors on the other end of the hall, every sound disappeared except for the rain.

And Taichi could hear his heart stopping when he saw Arata face Chihaya ever so slowly, and said, "I love you."

And he saw Chihaya's head snap up, but he did not know what happened after that. The last thing he could remember was him slowly closing the door, ever so silently, and backing away from it as if he had just seen the apocalypse happen at its other side. Which was weird, because it really did feel like the world ended then and there.

And the next thing he knew he was running out the dormitories, into the rain without caring that he had forgotten his umbrella. It did not matter to him, getting soaked. Right now, he was grateful for the cold rain running down his face, his back, soaking through his shirt. It somehow helped dull the pain.

He had read in those romance novels they had to write a book report for back in high school, about how painful a heartache could be. He had always thought they were mere exaggerations for the sake of prose, and he had been convinced that literature lied most of the time when it came to things like those.

He was surprised to find out that they had _not_ been lying. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible vise. Arata had told Chihaya that he loved her. It had been so sudden, so out of the blue, and so very straight-forward. Arata didn't use any candy-laced words to tell her how he felt. It was honest and true, and even an airhead like Chihaya could not misunderstand him.

Taichi ran all the way to the station, people staring at him all the way. They probably thought that he was crazy for braving this downpour with nothing on him but a t-shirt and jeans. It did not matter.

Arata had beaten him.

And all was over.

He looked down at his hand and discovered he still had his mobile phone clutched tightly in one hand. It was wet, like the rest of him. And he remembered that right before the universe had turned against him, he had promised Hanano-san that he would call her back.

_Crap._

This just wasn't his day.

Scratch that. This just wasn't his lifetime.

* * *

_**A/N: After watching the anime again, I came to believe one thing: Mashima Taichi is a masochist. Another thing I came to believe after seeing the little omake episodes is that I think Arata is a closet perv. XD He likes looking at pretty girls in magazines when he thinks no one is looking. Just a random thought. Don't mind me. **_

_**Another thing. The fandubbed anime keeps on referring to Taichi as 'Eyebrows'. This is incorrect. Harada-sensei calls him 'Matsuge-kun' which means 'eyelashes' in Japanese, simply because he has long lashes. I don't think he has physical features that anyone would link to his eyebrows. **_

_**Last but not the least, a big shoutout to **__**HypRRNeRd**__**. You're an awesome reader who offers great, well-rounded, long reviews I enjoy reading, not to mention pointing out a few of the mistakes I made. You. Are. Great. **_


	6. Chapter 6

**VI**

* * *

Taichi had never taken pride in his decision-making skills. He hadn't even considered himself fairly good at it, because he had spent majority of his youth having his mother decide for him. In his past team matches back in high school, he had said words he still regretted till this day, and he knew that he would probably still be dragging it along with him now if it hadn't been for his friends, and that in itself was making him sick every time he remembered it.

Maybe it was because of his fear of making the wrong decisions that he had spent majority of his high school days going off alone to different parts of the prefecture for karuta tournaments and matches, away from his team, afraid of having them witness possible defeats that were sometimes more of an inevitability for him.

And right now, he wondered what Oe-san and the rest would say if they found out that he had once again lost, and this time without putting up a fight. Arata had just poured his heart out so easily to Chihaya. And he… he _fled_.

_Dammit… _

What had made him run away, anyway?

Had he always been this cowardly?

Who was he kidding? Of course he had always been this cowardly. If he was any different, he would have confessed to Chihaya about his feelings way, _way_ back when they were in high school.

But no, he was a _coward_.

And now he was soaked to the bone in his t-shirt and jeans, a broken phone at hand, standing outside Mizusawa's karuta clubhouse like a fool.

What on earth was he doing? Arata had just made an attempt to snatch Chihaya away from him yet again, and he had run away like a frightened little girl.

_I should have stayed. I should have barged back in there and ruined the mood for them…_

Gods… He wondered what Chihaya had said. How did she respond to Arata's confession? Was she shocked? Was she happy?

_Did she accept his feelings?_

He suddenly felt cold, and he knew that it wasn't simply because it was raining.

He raised his face up, wrapped his arms around himself. The lights in the clubhouse were on. He could vaguely see someone moving inside. Hanano-san was probably still waiting for him to get back at her.

With shaky legs and jeans heavy with rainwater, Taichi trudged across the small flower bed towards the tall glass windows of the clubhouse's veranda. He flinched when lighting suddenly sliced through the sky behind him, followed closely by loud, booming thunder. In the distance he could hear collective screams of girls who were probably in the school building to get an early start with club preparations.

Taichi reached out at the glass window, pressed his face against it to peer inside. It was at that exact moment did another lighting bolt illuminate the horizon with white liquid fire just as Hanano-san raised her head from the mop she was using to wipe the floor with.

Their eyes met through the glass.

And Hanano-san screamed bloody murder.

Taichi knocked against the window frame with a fist. "Let me in," he said through chattering teeth.

Hanano-san's scream died down at the sudden recognition that it was just Mashima Taichi and not some madman banging against the glass. She abandoned the mop on the still wet floor and hurried over to where he was.

"My God, Mashima-senpai! You scared the living daylights out of me!" Hanano-san said, flustered as she slid the window open. She gave him a once-over, then gasped. "You're soaking wet! Hurry, get inside!"

Taichi let her fuss over him, and before he knew it, the small heater in the corner of the clubhouse was blazing and he had several towels thrown over his head.

"… looking like a freaking psycho-stalker appearing in this thunder storm like in some horror movie. Scaring me shitless… " Hanano-san continued to mutter to herself as she hurriedly pushed one of the more comfortable chairs they had in front of the heater.

Taichi listened to her with half an ear, his eyes wandering around the clubhouse to see the ruined tatami mats, the puddle in the middle of the floor and all the other furniture shoved to the walls to keep them from getting any wetter. He jumped when a t-shirt was shoved into his arms and he felt himself getting pushed into the chair near the heater.

"Senpai? _Senpai?_"

Taichi blinked, looked up to see Hanano-san standing a few feet away from him, once again armed with her mop, which she lowered once Taichi met her eye. "Huh? What?"

"I asked if you were all right." She gestured at the shirt she had given him. "That's Nishida-senpai's old shirt he left in the locker. It's probably too big. And yeah, it says _'Big on Beef'_ but it's better than the one you're wearing right now."

Taichi looked down at the shirt, then noticed he was still clutching his phone in one hand. He pushed the towels off his head onto his shoulders. "My phone died. I couldn't call you back about the tatami… "

Hanano-san stared at him in disbelief for about a good three seconds before sighing. "It didn't die on you, senpai. You _killed_ it by drowning it in rain water. And who cares about the tatami? Can you just tell me, _please_, what had possessed you to frolic around in this storm? In _mid-spring_?"

Taichi shook his head to tell Hanano-san that it was nothing. Either that, or to shake himself into the reality that he was acting like a complete idiot in front of a kouhai. "It's nothing. The place is a mess. Can I borrow your phone? I'll call the – "

"It's fine," Hanano-san interrupted him gently, leaning the mop against a wall before crossing her own arms around her stomach. "I called Tsukuba-kun and he said his mother knows this guy who does repairs for the old Japanese inn down at Asakusa. He said they'd look at it tomorrow, but since it's wet, we might end up having to replace everything. Tsukuba-kun's heading this way as we speak. But more importantly, are you okay?"

Taichi opened his mouth, almost ready to tell her, _"Everything's fine,"_ because that was what he always told his friends when they thought he was in a bad mood, or not in the best of shape.

But the truth was, everything _wasn't_ fine.

Everything was crap at the moment.

Hanano-san took a step closer to him, then another, close enough to kneel in front of him to peer up at his face. "Did something happen with Ayase-senpai?"

Taichi sucked in a breath at the mention of Chihaya's name. Did _something happen? _Oh, yeah, something happened… Taichi wiped his mouth with a corner of one of the towels draped on him, laughing hollowly. "Am I that obvious?"

Hanano-san raised an eyebrow. "No. I'm that perceptive."

Taichi did not think he was in the mood for this. He could think of a dozen different things he could do with his time than have an underclassman pry into his business. He moved to stand.

Hanano-san shoved him back down. He grunted when his back hit the chair. "Oh, no you don't, senpai. You're going to run away _again_, like you always do. And you're going to try to suffer in silence like some self-proclaimed martyr because you always, _always_ try to act cool and placid in front of us and never show us your weakness." She furrowed her brow, her lips narrowed in a straight line. "But I'll let you in on a little secret: _We can see right through you._"

Taichi stared back at Hanano-san's steady gaze and wondered where the love-sick little girl from a year ago had gone. It was not as if he did not like the Hanano-san right now. She was responsible and quite the leader when it came to club affairs. It was hard to believe that she used to claim that she had feelings for him.

By the time their third year of high school began, Hanano-san had told him that she loved him. It wasn't something he hadn't already known, but had been keen to pretend that he didn't. He was surprised when she had said it almost so casually. She never asked him for anything in return, nor even gave him a chance to turn her down.

"I love you," she had said, almost spontaneously. And that had been that. The next day, she had stopped wearing makeup altogether. She had won every single practice match she had with the newbies that year, and she had ignored Taichi for two weeks. It was only after she had reached C-class did she finally resume talking to him again, and the flirty, chocolate-covered words that usually came out of her mouth were no more.

He had been relieved.

But most of all, he had been envious.

He had thought then, _'If only I had half the courage this girl has.'_

But of course, he never did.

And all his dilly-dallying had finally paid off with having Arata once again getting ahead of him.

And Taichi had no one to blame but himself.

He covered his face with one shaky hand. "He said it."

"Who said what?" Hanano-san asked after a moment of silence.

Taichi rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Arata told Chihaya that he loves her."

He could hear Hanano-san shift in her place, most probably out of discomfort. It was the first time in their history in the club together that he had actually put into words the _'something' _that had been holding him, Arata and Chihaya together for the past years.

"And what did she say?" Hanano-san asked under her breath, as if afraid to find out the answer.

Taichi shook his head, face still buried in his hand. "I don't know. I was out of there the moment I knew what was happening."

She was silent, then, "Let me get this clear, senpai. Wataya-san just told Ayase-senpai his feelings, _and you just left?_"

"I wouldn't have known what to do if I'd stayed. I stepped out when you called. They were in Chihaya's new dorm room. The mood was perfect. They were talking about our childhood. And about rain and karuta… I can never win against Arata if it were about karuta."

"And so you ran away like a coward… " It was not a question. She was stating the fact.

Taichi peered at her from between his fingers and found her with a palm against her forehead, frowning in obvious frustration.

Hanano-san took in a deep breath, as she always did before participating in a match, then kneeled down in front of Taichi slowly. "Mashima-senpai, you can't keep running away from this forever." She hesitated a bit, then touched Taichi's knee. "We dedicated our high school days reading, learning, memorizing and forgetting a _hundred _poems by a _hundred _people written _hundreds of years ago_. These poets could have chosen not to share their feelings, but they put it down into paper and we have what's brought us all together in the first place: karuta. So what if Wataya-san's told Ayase-senpai his feelings? He has every right to. _You_ owe Ayase-senpai – and Wataya-san, who has been playing by the rules fair and square from the beginning – the truth."

Taichi knew that she was saying was right. It was so horribly right that he could only take it all in without even arguing back. He felt a shiver wrack his body again, and he pulled the towels tighter around him.

Hanano-san slapped his thigh hard, laughing a bit. "You don't even know what her answer was and you're acting like they're… like they're getting _married_ or something…!"

Taichi's head shot up, surprising himself and Hanano-san both at the reaction that brought the thought of Chihaya and Arata being… _together_. He did not like the feeling. It felt something close to being punched in the gut when you were most unawares, and you couldn't breathe. It was like watching a karuta match with Arata in it, where everything around you would feel like you were underwater, and you were just helpless until the match was over, unable to take in air.

Taichi shook his head, looked away. "She's loved him since sixth grade. She just didn't know, because she's Chihaya."

"And I suppose _you_ know her better than she knows herself?"

No, that wasn't especially the case. Or was it? "That's how it's always been."

"But what if you're wrong? What if she doesn't feel the same way for Wataya-san?"

He had never even thought of that possibility. He had always known Chihaya's feelings for Arata. He had never thought that Chihaya would have it any other way, really.

After all, Taichi had never been that lucky when it came to… _everything_.

_And they even look good together. Damn it. Damn him. _

"Say I…" Taichi started, finally meeting Hanano-san's eye. "Say I tell her my feelings, despite the fact that Arata had already told his before I did. What if…"

_What if she doesn't feel the same way?_

_What if she thinks I'm joking and laughs at me?_

_What if she starts avoiding me after I tell her I love her?_

_What if she's already told Arata she loves him, too?_

"What if it… doesn't work out?"

Hanano-san paused, somewhat looking a bit surprised at the question, what with her brown eyes widening for a moment before recovering quickly. She lowered her head to the ground. "It would suck. It would suck so bad it hurts. And you'd remember her when you go to places you've been to with her. And you'd remember her when you go to places you _haven't_ been to with her but wished you could have taken her if she had said yes. And you would see her face on a stranger who has the same hair clip, or same cologne, or same keychain, and you would beat yourself up for a lot of things you could have done that would have changed how the way things ended…" She paused a bit, and for a second Taichi thought she wasn't going to continue, until she finally raised her face up to him and smiled one of her toothy smiles. "And then you're going to be _okay_. I know. I've been there."

It was Taichi's turn to look away. He knew what she was talking about all too well. "I'm sorry."

Hanano-san shook her head. "Don't do that. Don't apologize, senpai. It feels like you're turning me down again."

Taichi could only rub his eyes tiredly, and he shifted in his seat. His feelings were running away with him. Hanano-san was right. He was already thinking way too far ahead of things, and to think he didn't even know what had really happened after he'd left them.

But still, deep down inside, he knew that things just couldn't possibly get any better, now that Arata had finally made his move.

Taichi took a deep breath, then another, and then another. Deep breathing always helped him calm down.

_I'm young. The future is ahead of me… I'll meet someone else. _

"There would be others," he said out loud, as if to convince himself that it were true.

He heard Hanano-san stand up, and he followed her with his eyes. She had a weary expression on her face, the smile still on her lips as she stood over him. "Oh, without a doubt there would be _others_. Girls will flock to you in droves, because, yeah, you're _you_. But the question is: Do you _want _any other girl?"

Taichi didn't even know why she was asking him this. He ran a hand through his damp hair. It was still very wet from the rain. "No. No, I don't."

_I just want her…_

Hanano-san sighed, shrugged and pulled at one of the towels Taichi had around his shoulder. She tossed it over his head and started briskly drying his hair. "Now if only you had chosen _me _in the first place, you wouldn't be having any problems," she joked.

Taichi could not help but laugh. "How did you do it?"

"Coz I'm awesome."

"Didn't you want to leave the club after everything?"

Her hands stopped moving for a brief second before resuming their task. "You were the reason why I joined this club. But now, you've graduated already, but I'm still here. What do you think?"

"You learned to love the game."

"I learned to love the _poems_. And I learned to stop loving you," she said quietly, almost as quiet as the muted sound of the rain and thunder outside. "People grow, and as they grow, they _change_. Along with their priorities. You're going to be all right, senpai."

Taichi sighed as he let her have her way with his hair. "Priorities… huh?"

"It might surprise you, though, that there could be a possibility that Ayase-senpai's priorities might have changed while you weren't looking."

She was starting to talk nonsense again. There wasn't a time when he didn't look at Chihaya.

"Maybe," he said, suddenly feeling very tired again.

He heard the door open noisily, and poked his head from under the towel to see Tsukuba hauling an aluminum ladder with him, sporting a tool belt that looked strangely at home at his right hip.

"Sorry I'm late," the boy said, looking flustered. When he noticed Hanano-san wasn't alone, he blinked at Taichi and said, "I didn't know Mashima-senpai was here."

Taichi gave him a wave, honestly surprised that he wasn't licking his lips like he always did when trying to look cool.

Hanano-san hurried over to Tsukuba, abandoning the towel on the back rest of a nearby chair. "What's with the ladder? And you're soaking wet! How many boys do I have to dry today, anyway? Let me get you a towel."

Tsukuba shook his head, brushing past her in a hurry. "Later. Unless we repair the roof, mopping the floor is meaningless."

Hanano-san squawked in protest. "You're climbing the roof? Oh, no you don't. If you fall and break your neck, I don't want to be the one to explain to your brothers that you died because you wanted to play handyman in this storm."

Tsukuba ignored her, brushing her sentiments away. "Psh! I've been repairing our roof back in Hokkaido with my dad every spring ever since I was ten. This is nothing." And he disappeared out the window of the veranda, Hanano-san running after him after grabbing an umbrella.

"If you slip and fall – " Her words were cut off when she closed the tall glass window behind her.

Taichi stared after them in awe, unable to believe how much his kohai had grown without him even noticing. He looked down at the shirt in his hand, then at his dead phone. "Priorities, huh… " he muttered again.

He might not know what Chihaya's priorities were, but he was starting to realize what _his _were.

He was a born loser. His mother might have known it from the start, that was why she had been more than adamant to have him learn many things to compensate for what he lacked. He had made them his weapons as he was growing up, but now he was just running out of options

Maybe he should have listened to his mother more…

Taichi did not know how he had managed to avoid both Chihaya and Arata after that day in the rain, but he did. He had a good enough reason to change his mobile phone number, and he had spent his remaining break back at his parents' house, because he knew Chihaya would never dare venture where his mother might be lurking.

And so as the semester in Todai began, and everyone was buzzing about the Chinese chef, the haunted auditorium and the newcomers, the Cultural Arts Department of the Faculty of Letters was excited to have a handful of new blood into their karuta club, one of which was Wataya Arata, who was more than famous in their department.

At the same time, the Sports department was ecstatic to find out that Mashima Taichi – _the _Mashima Taichi – who had topped the entrance exams for that semester, who was not only smart but was also very good-looking, had signed up for their soccer team.

Taichi knew that Chihaya would be furious.

And maybe for the first time in his life, he came close to not caring.


	7. Chapter 7

**VII**

* * *

It wasn't a surprise for Taichi to find everyone either shocked, hurt or utterly confused regarding his decision to abandon karuta. Komano had been obviously disappointed in him, but said he _'understood'_, and that, _'it wasn't like the five of them were going to be together forever'_. Taichi had thanked him for trying to see it from his point of view, but Komano had been distant ever since then. It had been painful for Taichi to watch the smaller boy trying to smile at him every time they would meet in classes they both shared, only to have him look away after a few mumbled greetings that were too formal for Taichi's taste. When he asked Komano about it, he said that he shouldn't read too much about it, and that everything between him and Chihaya were going to be okay.

Oe-san had been more understanding than Komano, but Taichi could still detect the great disappointment in her wide, almost watery eyes when she had confronted him about it the moment the semester began. Apparently, she had heard from Chihaya about Taichi's sudden unannounced disappearance during her move. Oe-san did not seem to have heard anything else regarding that rainy day, because when Taichi told her that Arata had already confessed to Chihaya, Oe-san had been surprised. _"Chihaya-chan didn't say anything about it…" _she had said to him in a very, very weak voice, though she had admitted seeing Arata and Chihaya almost always together recently.

Taichi did not know what had shocked Oe-san more: the fact that Taichi had actually given up hands down on his feelings for Chihaya, or the fact that Chihaya did not tell her about her current status regarding Wataya Arata. Oe-san had patted Taichi on his shoulders several times – something she always did to show him she supported him – and told him that everything was going to be okay. It was so much like her not to push and pry, or ask why he didn't do anything about it. Taichi guessed she understood that sometimes, learning your limits was not a bad thing.

And Taichi was probably already reaching his limit.

Nishida wasn't as understanding. As always, he knew how to push Taichi's buttons.

"_You've been mooning over Ayase since the karuta club was formed. You've been with her for three long years. You had every _chance_, every stinking _advantage_, but you refused to play your part. And in the end, you do what you always do; you _runaway_. But to soccer? _Soccer!_" _Nishida had said to him in utter frustration when they met in the Seven-Eleven for dinner. It had been one of those rare times when Nishida actually lost his appetite. He had abandoned his meat bun on the sidewalk in front of the convenience store to grab Taichi's collar and shake him violently.

Taichi had allowed him to do so, because he knew Nishida was right. He had been too long at his dilly-dallying. He had told Nishida that soccer wasn't just a replacement for karuta, and that he had always liked the sport since he was young. Nishida begged to differ, telling him that tennis could never hold a candle to karuta and that was also the case when it came to soccer.

But of course, that was just something Nishida felt like saying; he knew that this was not about karuta, _or_ soccer. It was about _Chihaya_, and the fact that Taichi had loved her ever since, but had lost her to Wataya Arata so easily because he had been…

Had been what? Unlucky? Unskilled?

_Yeah, that sounded about right. _

His timing had been off, and Arata could always beat him when it came to taking things faster, be it cards, or Chihaya. Taichi had tried telling himself to get angry at Arata for it, but he could never gather the rage to feel anything more than defeat.

Unlike Oe-san, who shared almost all of her units with Chihaya, Nishida seldom came in contact with both girls and did not know the full story behind Taichi taking sanctuary in a different pastime and so all he could tell Taichi was that he shouldn't give up and that everything was going to be okay.

Damn it… everyone was saying everything was going to be _okay_. And he wanted to believe them. Three weeks into the semester and he had been almost convinced that he could.

He had succeeded, if barely, in avoiding Chihaya inside campus. There had been instances, many of them in fact, when he would see her across the soccer field, walking beside Arata. It was hard not to see them, both tall and had an air of _'something'_ around them. Chihaya had in turn seen him, and there were times when she looked like she was about to bolt towards him but was held back by the number of people surrounding Taichi at almost every opportunity they had crossed paths.

It was the first time in his life did Taichi thank the heavens that women thought him attractive. Fangirls would always be trailing him, watching his soccer practices, giving him sports drinks and towels and once in a while boxes of goodies that he never really ate. But he took advantage of the wall they created every time Chihaya and Arata looked like they wanted to approach him. There had been one time when he came across Chihaya and Arata in the cafeteria. He had met Chihaya's eye, and he could not help but guiltily look away when he saw the confusion and pain marring her face. Arata had looked just as confused.

When he saw them try to make their way towards him, he was grateful when three girls approached him to shyly ask if they could sit with him. He had instantly jumped at the opportunity at an excuse, and he even went so far as put an arm around one of the girls, who he had to support all the way to their table because she seemed to have lost her strength in walking on her own two feet. That had kept Chihaya at bay, and much to his own bafflement, she looked so very hurt that he had to stop himself from running to her.

Those instances kept on repeating themselves all throughout their first month, and there had been times when Taichi thought everything was going to be all right once he got used to being away from Chihaya. Soccer kept him busy most of his free time and he had intentionally picked out his units that Chihaya would never even dare take part in, like Political History of Contemporary Japan. And in all honesty, everything _was _fine, so long as he had his thoughts occupied and his hands busy.

But while Taichi eventually got used to seeing Chihaya around campus standing beside Arata, it was different when he went home to his lonely pad that suddenly seemed too big for him ever since he started avoiding his friends. He had thought it was because he was having a hard time getting rid of the habit of using his floor for practice swings. One of the rooms he had first thought of using for karuta practice still remained untouched, and he would feel a sudden kind of hollow sadness every time his eyes would sweep across that closed door right across his own room.

It was only then did he begin to believe that he had invested too much time and emotion into karuta. All throughout high school, it had occupied the bulk of his free time at home. And now that he was finally straying away from the game, it was then did he realize that he had absolutely nothing better to do when he had a few hours to spare during the weekends.

By the end of the first month, however, he had begun to accept everything he was going through like a typical adult. Not everything went your way, and it sucked, but that was life. And he guessed Chihaya felt the same.

Every time he crossed paths with the girl, she did not give him confused, puppy-dog looks anymore. Taichi didn't know how to take her submissive behavior; it was not like her to give up on something she was so convinced on doing from the very beginning.

But then again, Taichi had only ever seen Chihaya fixated on a guy when she had been driven to bring Arata back into her little karuta world. It was a wonder how that thought had brought forth in Taichi an insecurity he didn't even know he was capable of feeling.

Chihaya hadn't stopped stalking Arata until she finally had her way, even going so far as to see him in Fukui back in their first year.

And here she had already given up on Taichi after a _month_, and hasn't so much as tried anything to her usual extremes to see him, even given the fact that they shared the same campus.

Well, of course she wouldn't be running after him_._ She had someone else. She's always had someone else.

Taichi tried to rationalize that at least Chihaya was happy this way. And when you loved someone, wouldn't you want them to be happy? He had been terribly surprised by the sharp, jabbing pain in his chest when he told himself over and over again that Chihaya belonged to Arata now. No, he was not happy at all that Chihaya was happy with Arata. Screw all those romantic memes he's read about love on the internet. None of them were true.

But by the second month of their semester, he came to find out something that shattered everything he believed in until now.

And it came in the terrible form of Arata in his stupid Daddy Bear shirt.

It was a chilly afternoon, and soccer practice had just ended. Taichi was sitting on the grassy slop that surrounded the soccer field, all sweaty and dirty and smelly, when Arata appeared from behind him, offering him a can of soda.

Taichi stared at the can for a brief moment before accepting it warily. "What brings you here?"

Arata blinked at him, as always that bland expression of his plastered on his face like a mask. The setting sun cast a glare against those glasses of his that Taichi couldn't see his eyes.

"I couldn't help but notice your fangirls aren't here. I took the opportunity to approach you," Arata said as he gestured at Taichi. "Your uniform suits you."

Taichi looked down at the grass stains on his shorts and the mud smeared on his shirt and shoes. He wondered if Arata was trying to mock him. "Thanks," he said uncertainly.

"Mind if I have a seat?" Arata asked.

Taichi held the cold can with both his hands. He could feel his knuckles cracking when he applied a bit of pressure into it. "You're free to do whatever you want."

Arata settled on the grass a few feet to his left. "That must mean I'm free to ask you why you've been avoidin' us?"

Taichi practically felt his spine stiffen at that very moment, and while he had never really known himself to be violent, right then and there he felt like punching him. He did not know if Arata was doing it on purpose, but he did not like how he talked as if this matter was nothing of great consequence. "Do you mean soccer? Because if you do, then Komano and the rest have already drilled me about it. It isn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. I've played back in middle school. I was pretty good at it, too."

"And what about karuta?"

"What _about _it?"

"You don't want to play anymore?"

Why was Arata asking him this all of a sudden? Taichi wiped his mouth with his sleeve when he felt a bit of sweat pop out over his upper lip. "Is that a bad thing? Because the last time I checked, we were free to choose our own electives."

Arata was not the least bit moved by his sudden snappy remark. Perhaps the boy already knew his personality all too well. "You never told us you were plannin' to join a different club. No one knew. Not even Chihaya."

The name had Taichi shrinking a bit in his place. He looked away, trying to distract himself with the group of girls from the track team who jogged past them, throwing Taichi eager waves before bursting into giggles. He waved back.

Arata had to smile. "You were always very popular back in sixth grade. Girls and guys liked you because you were cool. I guess I'm not surprised to see you havin' the same amount of attention you had back then."

Taichi lowered his hand when the track team finally disappeared around the grove of trees. He frowned at Arata. "I never asked for it. It's not my fault people want to find someone to moon over in their first year of college."

"I never said it's a bad thing. Branchin' out of your comfort zone is a good thing, since you've always been very multi-talented," Arata said quietly as he rubbed a thumb under his chin thoughtfully. "I was just wondering where we all fit in between. Your friends. Me. _Chihaya._"

Taichi pushed himself to a standing position, abandoning the soda can Arata had given him on the grass. "Look, Arata. I'm sorry that everything came on such short notice. But I'm asking you nicely, can you please leave me alone?"

Arata scrambled to a standing position, too. If Taichi didn't know any better, he would have thought the dark-haired boy was angry. "No, I can't, actually. I have no idea what's happenin' here. We were getting' along just fine, until you suddenly started distancin' yourself from us without even explainin' what's goin' on. Chihaya was _cryin'_, Taichi! Have you seen her cry? Do you know how heart-wrenchin' it is to see her all hurt because she doesn't know what to do?"

Taichi felt his hands clench themselves into fists as he willed his mind to get rid of the image of Chihaya in tears. He had seen her cry many times. Tears of joy. Tears of sadness. Tears of frustration. She was just so earnest about anything she put her heart into, and because of that, the pain of failure came twice as hard for her. He looked over his shoulder. "Of course I've seen her cry. I've been with her for three freaking years while you were away. Half the time she cried, it was because of karuta. And the other half, she cried for you. I was there. I had always been there."

"And so what made you decide to _not _be there anymore?" Arata suddenly demanded. It did not suit him, raising his voice. Taichi had always known him to be the quiet, passive boy back in sixth grade.

Taichi turned to face him, suddenly finding the humor in all of this. He threw his hands in the air. "Arata, I'm not like you. All the while, Chihaya and I had been together, and you never so much as cared that I could sweep her off her feet, away from you, if I only had the balls to do so. I'm not like you, who's so confident without even an ounce of insecurity in you that it never bothered you that Chihaya was with _me_ all this time. I'm _different!_ Unlike you, I can't stand the fact that Chihaya has been pining away all through high school for _you_, when all the while _I_ was right in front of her!"

Arata watched him, his mouth in one thin grim line as he listened. His calmness made Taichi even angrier. How can anyone be this placid when someone was pouring his heart out of every vulnerable feeling he's ever felt ever since he had fallen in love with a girl they thought belonged to both of them?

Taichi gestured wildly at him. "I could never hold a candle to you! Not even if I tried. All the things I've studied, all the trophies, all the medals, they mean _nothing_ compared to you. I tried, and tried, and tried. But I could never be you, or be even _remotely _like you. And that's who Chihaya's always wanted: _you._" He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly scared that he might break down crying. He looked straight up at the sky, pinching the bridge of his nose, willing the tears to go away. "And what I hate about it, is that I can't help but think the two of you being so perfect together, and that I could never be anything more than what I am to her: a jack of all trades, master of none, while you're the almighty karuta god to her. Damn it… "

And they were silent.

For a brief moment, Taichi suddenly felt really embarrassed at his sudden outburst. Arata cleared his throat.

"I suppose I can take that as some sort of… err… compliment? You were complimenting me, right?" he asked.

Taichi wanted to clobber him then and there. He practically snarled at him. "What I'm saying, is that I can't be around _you_. And I can't be around _her_. And I can't be around _both_ of you together knowing you're dating. And I have my pride and – "

"Whoa. Wait, wait. What did you just say?" Arata suddenly interrupted, looking utterly shocked and confused.

Taichi glowered at him. "Oh, don't make me repeat myself. Bottom line is, I need space. At least until I get to accept the fact that you've gotten your grubby paws on her already." He whirled around to leave.

Until he felt something cold and hard hit the back of his head with so much force that he reeled over, nearly toppling forward.

Arata had chucked the can of soda at him!

Taichi let out an angry cry as he made a lunge for Arata. Maybe, just maybe, it would feel good to land him a good one. After all, the guy stole his girl.

What a joke that was. Taichi knew that Arata won fair and square.

But still, maybe a punch in the gut would bring a bit of satisfaction…

Taichi already had his fist pulled back to send one flying, but he was surprised when he saw Arata laughing. The boy had his hands on his stomach as he laughed, his deep voice echoing through the now empty grounds.

"What's so funny?" Taichi demanded.

"You… you were… eaves…eavesdroppin' on us… that day, weren't you?" Arata asked between chuckles. "Oh, good gracious… ! You're funny!"

So he says. Taichi could still not get the joke. He narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you talking about?" He allowed Arata to have his fill of laughter for about a couple of minutes. When he settled down, Taichi was caught off-guard when Arata sent a fist flying across his face.

Taichi went sprawling backwards, letting out a strangled gasp. He had never expected Arata to be this strong. But then again, he hadn't expected Arata to be good at anything other than karuta. That was a mean right hook there.

"You heard me tell her I love her, that rainy day when we helped her move her stuff," Arata said plainly, towering over him. Taichi could have assumed Arata was accusing him, had it not been for the small, weary grin on his lips. "I had always thought you to be a liar and a cheat back in sixth grade, and you had always struck me to be a coward. Because of that, I'm surprised at how flawed your spyin' skills are."

Taichi pushed himself to a sitting position, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. He could taste blood in his mouth. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Arata went down on his haunches, leveling his face to Taichi's, his blue-black eyes searching his face with such a serious expression that it took everything Taichi had not to look away. "When you eavesdrop, make sure you do it right next time." Arata paused, sighed. "She turned me down."

Silence.

Taichi blinked.

Arata raised an eyebrow.

And Taichi could ask the only coherent question he had in his head at the moment.

"Wait, what?"

Arata's grim expression returned, and he nodded at Taichi after a moment of pondering. "I need to show you something. Come with me."

Now if only Taichi had been able to compose himself better, he would have asked Arata what he wanted to show him, or maybe ask him if he was telling the truth. But right now, nothing seemed to be making sense, because he was almost a hundred percent sure that Chihaya had said yes to Arata that day on her move.

He had seen Arata and Chihaya almost always together ever since, and so he had assumed…

He had assumed that… well…

And that was when reality finally hit him.

He felt his face splitting into a very, very wide grin as he pushed himself up to follow Arata's already retreating figure up the grassy slope. In the corner of his eye, he could see the deformed can of soda a few feet to his right. He bent down, picked it up, and unceremoniously chucked it at Arata.

It hit him smack on the head, and he let out a loud, "Ow!"

And for a split second, Taichi had a brief image of him and Arata playing in the snow, of a young Arata who had caught a cold and a young Taichi forcing his beanie on his head, and of the two of them screaming Chihaya's name out as they ran through the grove near their elementary school.

And it was then did Taichi remember that even before Arata had been his rival, he had been his friend.

And he wondered, right that very moment, how in the world did he even allow himself to forget that.

* * *

_**A/N: Three more chapters to go!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**VIII**

* * *

It was strange being with Arata, and just Arata. It had always been Taichi, Arata and Chihaya. Or Taichi and Chihaya. Or Arata and Chihaya.

But _Taichi _and _Arata?_

It had been weird standing beside him in the crowded bus. Perhaps if he weren't wearing a freaking Daddy Bear shirt, then he wouldn't have been this uncomfortable…

Or maybe the shirt didn't have anything to do with it. Perhaps it had something to do with the matching Snowmaru ice packs they had bought in the convenience store which they both had pressed on the backs of their heads as they rode that bus together. People stared. It wasn't everyday you get to see two tall, good-looking guys with ice packs on the back of their heads, particularly not one of them in a horribly stained soccer uniform while the other sporting a strange shirt with a creepy bear on it.

Taichi wasn't sure where Arata was taking him. He seldom traveled by bus and usually just stuck to the main metro line, but as he looked out the window, he was surprised to discover that the surrounding environment looked awfully familiar. The old bookstore where he used to buy the latest Shounen Jump release. The drycleaners where an old lady worked, who gave him free candy when she saw him on his way home from school. The post office where a stray tabby cat used to lounge in the afternoon sun.

Taichi wasn't surprised at all to find them getting off at the bus stop right outside East Osato Elementary School. _Their _Elementary school.

"You wanted a trip down memory lane?" Taichi asked, trying to humor Arata as he gestured at the nostalgic building across the street.

Arata lowered his arms to his sides, letting the ice pack he had in one hand drip freely on the pavement. He smiled. "You can say that, I guess," he said weakly, eyeing the school wistfully. "It's smaller than I remember."

"That's because you've gotten bigger," Taichi pointed out. "Come on." He moved to cross the street.

Arata stopped him. "No. That's not what I wanted to show you."

Taichi frowned. "I thought you wanted a trip down memory lane?"

"I did. But not _that_ lane." Arata looked over at him as he made to walk down the street that led to the old residential area a few blocks away. "Let's go back. To where it all began."

Taichi could not help but stare at Arata for the longest possible time before he finally followed him. _To where it all began_, he had said. Taichi could not help but frown. He had very little memory about how everything had started, really. Maybe it was because he knew he had been a rotten little kid before and just didn't want to remember any of that old history.

Taichi followed Arata down a neighborhood he knew he had been to once or twice before back in sixth grade, and his eyes widened when he found himself in front of a dingy old apartment complex that brought back so many memories he couldn't believe he had allowed himself to forget.

"This is… your old place. When you transferred here to Tokyo…" Taichi whispered, and he did not know what made him shiver at the sight of the peeling walls, the slightly slanted roof, the rusty metal stairs. It was obvious no one was living in any of the small units anymore, but the way Arata was gazing at it, Taichi could swear Arata was seeing something that he wasn't.

"Taichi," Arata started. "A year ago, when Chihaya was hospitalized for that weird operation on her hand, she gave me a call. Did she tell you?"

Taichi bit his inner cheek, shook his head. "No. But I saw her. I was visiting that day. I knew she was talking to you." He could not forget that day, after all. It was the day he had admitted to Oe-san, if indirectly, that he had feelings for Chihaya. It was the day he had finally admitted to himself that if he did not act, Chihaya was going to disappear from his side forever.

"She asked me about karuta. Because that's pretty much what she always called me for. She asked me how I could stay so relaxed in a match, and how I could look so calm even when faced with a strong opponent. She wanted to know because she said she could only make scary faces when she's about to participate in a match. I believed her. I've seen that look many times before. And I told her that I always come back _here_. In this apartment complex. In that room. It smelled of moldy tatami mats, and you could hear the rain beatin' on the rooftops."

Taichi rubbed his forehead, pulled back his hand to discover he had dirt staining his face. No wonder people were staring. "Yeah. So I heard, when you pulled a good one on me and confessed your feelings to her when I conveniently stepped out of the room. You sly bastard."

Arata had to laugh and he lowered himself to sit on the sidewalk, leaving his ice pack by his feet. "I had you to thank."

"Huh?"

"It was the day you pushed me into a puddle outside school after dismissal. Chihaya and I were talkin' then, and you threatened her that if she didn't stop talkin' to me, you'd have the whole class ignore us. And she said she didn't care. I took her home with me to dry up because my home was nearer."

Taichi listened patiently, mimicking Arata by also sitting down by the sidewalk. He clenched and unclenched his hands around his ice pack, trying to will away the baseless jealousy he was feeling for things that happened an eternity ago. He had heard bits and pieces of the same old story from Chihaya once or thrice before, but it was a first hearing it from Arata.

He could not help but feel the same amount of stabbing pain when Arata and Chihaya talked about it so lovingly, like they would about a world that Taichi could never even dream of belonging to.

"She told me that day that her dream was to see her sister become Japan's top model, or somethin' like that." Arata laughed again, his eyes still trained on the upper-left unit of that apartment complex. "I told her that she shouldn't steal other people's dreams. And then… "

Taichi closed his eyes, waited for him to continue.

"And then I told her _my _dream. And she thought it was cool. Do you know how much that meant to me, Taichi?"

"It… must have meant a lot," Taichi said, his eyes still closed.

Arata shifted beside him. "You bet it did. I was away from the home I've always known. I was in a place where everyone thought I was weird. And here came a girl who spoke her mind out without thinkin', and she stole a card from under my nose and changed my life forever."

Taichi felt his heart skip a beat painfully, and he rubbed at his chest as if that would help relieve it, even for just a bit. "She's always been like that," he said quietly.

"Chihaya has somethin' that draws people together. And she was the reason why we became friends," Arata said, and Taichi felt a nudge at his side.

He looked over at Arata questioningly. "What?"

Arata had dropped his eyes onto the pavement between his feet where his ice pack was placed. "But while I've always thought Chihaya to be different than any other girl, she will always be just that: a _girl_. And girls, they change whenever you're not lookin', ya know?"

Taichi frowned at him, suddenly not liking where this conversation was going. "So, what? You're telling me she changed out of your liking?"

Arata's eyes widened. "What, no! If anythin', I think I might even love her more than I did before. I guess, what I mean is… how do I put it…? Her… priorities have changed…"

Taichi's head shot up at what he said, and for a split second, he could remember what Hanano-san had said to him.

_Priorities. It always went down to priorities… _

Arata rested his chin on an open palm, his elbow planted on his knee. "Chihaya's stopped attending karuta practice about two weeks ago. Have you heard?"

Taichi blinked at him in disbelief. No, Arata had to be lying. There was no way Chihaya would skip karuta practice! And to think after all these years, she had been pining at the chance to battle it out with Arata… Taichi laughed. "You're got to be kidding me. That's not Chihaya."

Arata gave him a one-eyed gaze from under those glasses of his. "You were too busy with your fangirls that you missed out on the part that while Chihaya's love for karuta never disappeared, it _changed_. Or should I say, _evolved?_"

Taichi furrowed his brow even more, and he was almost afraid to ask what he meant.

Arata said it, anyway. "Chihaya's grown to dream of _teachin'_ karuta more than _playin'_ karuta, Taichi. Her _dreams _have changed." He jerked his head towards the apartment unit weakly. "The dream that was born here grew into something more than just a _dream_. It's become a _goal_. And the _passion _that karuta ignited in her turned into an _enthusiasm_ that went beyond her selfish desire to become better." He nodded. "She's concentratin' on her studies, Taichi. You should see her. She's amazin'."

Taichi felt like he was seeing Arata for the very first time, and he suddenly felt ashamed and a bit envious that it was Arata who had been the first one to notice Chihaya's transition. At the same time, he felt a bit hurt that Oe-san and the rest never told him anything about Chihaya's sudden retreat from karuta. Didn't they think he at least deserved to know?

But then again, it was Taichi who tried to burn their bridges here. He knew it was not fair to complain…

Arata began to speak again. "She talked about you often, at first she was so mad at you for suddenly actin' like a stranger to her. Then she wondered if there was somethin' she did wrong, and she blamed herself for it for a couple of days before she turned back to gettin' mad at you again. She tried to reach you, but you changed your number, and she couldn't call. We go to the same college but you knew how to avoid her. It wasn't like her to back down just because of a few girls hangin' all over you, but for some weird reason, they held her back." Arata straightened up, looked Taichi straight in the eye, and said, "That was when I knew how she saw you and me through her eyes. And it wasn't a very pleasant realization."

Taichi did not know why his ears started ringing then and there, because for a moment, he felt like Arata's confidence – the confidence Taichi had always envied ever since they were children – was wavering. He narrowed his eyes at Arata. "How did Chihaya turn you down?" he asked.

Arata was silent for a while before he shrugged and turned away. "You're a nasty guy to ask me that. But since you're my friend, I'll tell you anyway. At first she started laughin'. As in, really loud and it scared the heck out of me. Then she started babblin' about stuff I didn't understand, like 'lack of experience', and stuff like that." He chuckled mirthlessly. "She calmed down after a bit. Then you know what she said? She said: _'Aww, I love you, too Arata! You know we've been friends for so long to know that even without having to say it.'"_

Taichi winced. "Ouch… That hurt."

"Like hell it did. I think it would have been better if she'd just ripped out my heart then and there," Arata said, and he buried his face against his arm. "And then she asked, _'Hey, where'd Taichi go?'"_

Taichi did not know what to say. Here, Arata had admitted to him that he had confessed, and failed, at his love for Chihaya. Yet Arata had stayed by Chihaya's side all throughout the times when Taichi had so adamantly tried to stay away from her because he was afraid she wasn't going to understand.

_Arata's right. I _am _a coward…_

"Taichi," Arata continued, his voice muffled by his arm.

"What?"

"You told me earlier that you wanted to be like me. Why is that?"

Taichi felt his face burn, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand nervously. "Because… I had always known that Chihaya loved you. She's always had, back in high school. I wasn't stupid. I knew."

There was a long pause from Arata, then, "She… she must have changed, then."

Taichi still felt a bit unsure about that. He shrugged. "I wouldn't know. She's always struck me as someone who'd be obsessed over something for a lifetime."

Arata finally raised his head to look at Taichi once more. And in a serious voice, he said, "I think you should stop lookin' at Chihaya the way you've been lookin' at her ever since you fell in love with her."

Taichi blinked, confused. "I don't get what you mean."

"You see her through the eyes of that sixth grader bully, and for some reason you've always had an inferiority complex when it came to me. Chihaya's not a child anymore. And while she's always taken my side back in elementary school, she's grown up, enough to choose what she wants. _Who _she wants." Arata smiled. "We talked about you often, and she always looked so happy when she told me about your mother, or the time you got your A-rank. Or the time when you told her not to enter boys' rooms. And every time she told me of the times when you were together, it got rubbed into my face the fact that I could never win against your history together."

Taichi felt his face grow even hotter still, up to the tips of his ears, and he pressed the ice pack against his forehead unconsciously. "You're wrong. She's always looked at you. You were so far away, but it had always been you."

Arata tilted his head to the side. "That's because Chihaya's always been an offensive karuta player. It's easier for her to see things further away from her own side of the tatami mat."

Taichi wrinkled his nose and turned away. "I've had enough of karuta metaphors, Arata. Spare me, please."

Arata shook his head. "Fine. Then let me give you a track metaphor. Perfect, because Chihaya used to run back in middle school, right?"

Taichi sniffed uncaringly, but decided not to say anything.

Arata went on anyway. "While I had always stood at the finish line, setting up a goal for her to achieve, you have always been there, running along with her by her side. So all this time, while you came to have this delusion that all she's ever looked at is the finish line, she's actually very, very happy that you were there with her."

Taichi groaned, unsure of what to say to Arata. He knew what Arata wanted him to do. Arata wanted him to man up and talk to Chihaya. It was so easier said than done…

Because Taichi was Taichi…

Arata sighed, stood up and brushed his bottom. "The possibility of what could be more than friendship began and ended in that room, that rainy day, Taichi. The day I went back to Fukui, when I swore to cut off karuta from my life and everything that reminded me of it, I knew it had been a mistake to shut you guys out. And that's the reason why I'll never leave Chihaya's side even after she rejected me. Because while she may not love me the way I want her to love me does not rule out the fact that it was _Chihaya_ who played against me in that room. And it would always be _in that room_ that I go back to every time I play."

It was inspiring, really, Taichi thought. He hated the fact that his hundred and first rival was the one giving him advice to man up. It was his turn to drop his head into his hand. "But what if things don't turn out the way I wanted it? I'm not you. I'm a sore loser…"

Arata looked down at him, extending a hand. "You think too much. You can be such a girl, Taichi."

Taichi raised his head and glared at Arata, but took his hand anyway and allowed him to help him up. "And that's coming from someone who's wearing a Daddy Bear shirt."

Arata smirked. "Admit it. You're jealous because she gave me this shirt."

Taichi started to protest, shrugged off Arata's hand then sighed. "Yeah. I want that shirt. Can I have it?"

"No."

"You're a heartless, heartless man."

Arata scoffed. "You get to have the girl. I only get the shirt. But you don't see me complainin'. Don't be greedy, Taichi."

Getting the girl? It was still too early to assume…

Taichi let out a strangled snort. "Greedy, huh? Chihaya must have rubbed off against me. She's as greedy as hell."

Arata, in turn, returned his snort with a sad, almost resigned smile. "I wouldn't know, Taichi. I wouldn't know."

Taichi looked down at his feet, a bit embarrassed. "Thank you. For today."

Arata nodded in understanding. "Are you goin' to see her?"

"I will. I have to make a few calls to our friends first. Shower and stuff. I stink."

Arata was watching him with that serious expression on his face again. He gave Taichi a gentle pat on his shoulder. "You're my friend, and I'm rootin' for you. But, if you so much as give me a reason to do so, I will take her from you. So you'd better get your act together."

Taichi paused, blinked. While in normal circumstances, whatever that might sound as a threat from Arata would send him running for the hills because he knew he had always been insecure of him.

But today, well… today was a bit different.

"Give me that shirt," Taichi said.

Arata raised an eyebrow at him. "No," he said flatly.

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing until now. I really appreciate it. The next chapter will probably be one of the hardest chapters to write. It will be Taichi's 'manning-up' chapter with Chihaya, so if it takes too long for an update, it must mean I'm struggling. I have it slightly drafted out in my head, but Chihaya's always been a hard character to deal with, so wish me luck!**_

_**Once again, thank you for those who bothered to read and review. Two more chapters to go!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**IX**

* * *

It wasn't until Taichi had finally parted ways with Arata by sundown did everything they've talked about really, _really _sink in, leaving Taichi strangely giddy and excited. He practically had to control himself from skipping all the way back to Todai, though those who had witnessed him entering campus grounds thought that he had a different spring to his step as he crossed the soccer field to change out of his dirty uniform and gather his books and bag from his locker. By the time he had showered and dressed out of his uniform, it was already six in the evening, and the sun was already completely obscured behind the supposedly-haunted auditorium.

After a month of trying to drown himself in self-pity, distracting himself with a strenuous sport and the fame and screaming fangirls that came with it, Taichi finally felt like things were looking up. He had everything mapped out in his head now, as he always had when it came to matters of grave consequence.

And this was definitely a matter of grave consequence.

Tonight was the night he was going to tell Ayase Chihaya that he was crazily, helplessly, madly in love with her. This was a big breakthrough for him, and he was not going to allow himself to mess it up. He had to hurry, before he lost the little borrowed courage Arata had provided for him.

Given that Mashima Taichi was not really used to optimism – realists seldom were – he was pleasantly surprised to find himself in high spirits about the whole idea of confessing his love to her. It was then did he decided that there was a limit when it came to keeping such things bottled up inside for so long; he felt like he was going to explode any second.

Of course, as with every endeavor in Mashima Taichi's life, there were always some speed bumps along the way.

He had chosen to take the shorter route behind the auditorium, as it was easier to reach the west-side campus gates from there leading to the subway metro he could ride back to his apartment. He was humming to himself as he strode down the gradually darkening path, books under his arm and bag thrown over one shoulder, when someone grabbed his shirt from behind. Taichi nearly yelled, for a moment images of ghosts, poltergeists and crying spirits of dead girls flashed before his mind's eye until he discovered it was just a girl he could vaguely remember seeing in the corner of one of his Political Science classes. He didn't remember her name, but she was blushing up at him as she nervously tugged at a lock of her dark brown hair with a shaky hand.

She told him she liked him, and if he would consider going out with her, even just once.

Normally, Taichi would have a hard time rejecting an in-your-face proposal, making excuses like, _'Sorry, I'm trying to focus more on my studies'_, or _'Karuta takes too much of my time.'_ Lately, he had been very creative with his excuses, saying, _'I don't think I'm the right one for you,' _or, _'I'm still a freshman and I'm still trying to get the feel of things, so I don't think I'd be able to prioritize dating for now.'_

But it was that afternoon, underneath the rising shadows behind the supposedly-haunted auditorium did he finally lower his head in a deep bow, and without batting an eyelash and not a shred of hesitation in his voice did he say, "I'm sorry, but I'm in love with someone else."

And there was a very, very loud silence after once and for all putting into words the feeling he's had ever since he had reunited with Ayase Chihaya back in their first year of high school.

And nothing – absolutely _nothing _– in the world could have made him feel freer than he was feeling at that moment.

He was in love with someone else.

He was _in love!_

It had been strangely liberating, being able to tell someone outside of his circle that he had feelings for a girl without sounding disgustingly corny to his own ears. The girl cried her heart out, and Taichi was too drunk from the happiness of being able to admit to himself that yes, he loved Ayase Chihaya, to even care.

And he was going to tell her today. Today!

But as he walked away from the still crying girl and he hurried out of Todai and down the subway steps towards his ride, reality started to creep up on him, and he was once again reminded that while everything could go exceedingly well for him, there was still that fifty-fifty chance that everything could go exceedingly _wrong_, too.

_No. Now is not the time to think about that. It's now or never. _Now or never!

Taichi pushed through the crowded train, taking his place near the door. He could hear whispers from girls who looked his way, some even dared to point at him and gush at a nearby friend at how good-looking he was. He felt like his heart was beating directly in his ear, and he was grateful when the train pulled at his stop. He rushed out and into the even more crowded station.

He needed to get things done first before he searched her out. Things as important as this needed more time and planning.

The thought made Taichi laugh inwardly. Time and planning? He had been dilly-dallying all throughout high school. How much more time and planning did he need?

_No more. It has to be today. It has to be right now… _

He fiddled with the keys to his apartment, carelessly dropped his books and bag on the floor and kicked off his shoes. Before anything else, he knew he needed to make a few calls. There was always an order when it came to confessing your undying love to a girl.

And the first thing in that order was getting the approval of her friends.

_Their _friends, to be exact.

He had cut them off for a month.

And an apology was long overdue.

He went straight to the kitchen, switched on his coffee maker and sat on the dining table with his mobile phone in hand. He breezed through his contacts and found the very first one he had wanted to apologize to first.

"_Hello?"_

"Komano? It's me."

There was a long – a _very _long – silence on the other end of the line. Then, "Mashima?"

Taichi leaned back on his chair, took a deep breath and took the plunge. "Thanks for answering. This is my new number, and I know you don't answer calls from unknown caller ID's."

Komano cleared his throat loudly. _"Ah, yes. Well… Is there anything you need? This isn't like you to suddenly call. It's been a while, after all."_

Taichi could not help but detect the cold edge in the smaller boy's voice, but knew that he deserved it. He laughed weakly, knowing that Komano was too smart to buy that he was calling because of a whim. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything…"

Another long pause on Komano's side. Taichi could hear some people talking in the background. Then Komano said, _"Mashima."_

Taichi sat up straighter. "Yeah?"

"_There's nothing to apologize for. You had your reasons; I know you long enough to know that you don't do stuff like this without a valid one. I should have tried to understand better…"_

Taichi was not expecting this from him. Komano may look like he was indifferent when it came to these things, but Taichi knew he was more aware than he let on. Taichi took another deep breath, then said, "I'm going to tell Chihaya that I love her. Today. And I wanted to tell you that whatever happens after that, I won't run away from her or from you guys, ever again. Okay?"

Another long, antagonizing silence. Taichi thought that he might have just given too much information to the boy. He was about to add something when Komano started screaming at him so loud that Taichi had to hold out his mobile a few inches away from his ear.

"_G-good luck, Mashima! You don't have to think about us! Th-this is your fight, and it's yours to lose! You can do this! You take it by the 'Chi', okay? Good luck!"_ And he hung up.

Taichi stared at his mobile for a few seconds before laughing out loud. That was definitely a surprise reaction from Komano. But then again, Taichi had always known him to be quite passionate about unexpected things. For some reason, it made his heart feel a lot lighter. Calling Nishida next had been easier.

"_Mashima? What's up?"_

Taichi, still soaring from Komano's reaction, started with, "Nishida, I'm sorry about everything until now. I know I could have been a better friend and a better president to you, but I always end up falling short to your expectations."

Nishida responded, slightly pissed. _"What? You call me at this time when you can just tell me later over dinner in the Seven-Eleven later?"_

Taichi sighed and stood when he heard the coffee maker's switch click to signal that the coffee was done. He proceeded to collect his cup as he continued his conversation with his friend. "I can't. It has to be now. I have to tell you this now, or I don't think I'd be able to apologize to you after."

Nishida paused, then asked, _"What's up?"_

"I'm telling her today."

"_Huh? Tell who what?"_

Taichi frowned, returning to his seat with his cup of coffee. "Who else do you think?"

Another pause, then Nishida started laughing happily. _"Finally? Finally!"_

Taichi could not help but laugh with him. "Yeah. It took me long enough."

"_Better late than never, Mashima,"_ Nishida said. He paused again, and Taichi could hear something loud in the background.

"Are you busy right now? Sorry for calling so suddenly," Taichi said.

"_Nah, everything's fine. Absolutely fine."_ He laughed again. _"You're going to be all right, Mashima. Both of you are. Once you fix what you have to fix, I hope we could have some time to hang out again. Oh! Are you quitting soccer?"_

Taichi was caught off-guard by the question. He hadn't really thought that far ahead of the equation yet. Right now, he just wanted to get everything over with before he chickened out. He leaned back on his chair, tracing the mouth of his cup tentatively. "I don't know. But we're definitely hanging out with the others after everything settles down."

"_That sounds great." _One more pause, then Nishida said under his breath, _"You take it at the 'Chi', man. At the 'Chi'." _And he hung up.

Taichi listened to the beeping sound of the tone at the other end of the line and blinked. At the 'Chi'.

_At the 'Chi'…_

Taichi dialed one final number.

"_Hello?"_

"Oe-san. It's Taichi."

"_President? It's been a while. How are you?" _she asked politely, thought Taichi couldn't miss the obvious pleasure in her voice. Taichi had seen the small girl around campus and exchanged a few words with her a few times, but since she was almost always with Chihaya, Taichi had stayed away from her when he knew Chihaya was near. It was good to talk to her again without looking over his shoulder.

"Never been better. Listen, is now a good time to talk?"

"_Of course. Is there a problem? You're not in trouble, or…?"_

"No, no. I just wanted to tell you that… I think it's about time I face my fears and tell Chihaya what I feel about her."

Taichi heard something clatter on the other end of the line. Oe-san must have dropped her phone. After several seconds of shuffling, scratching and a loud squeak from the girl, she was back in line. _"Th-th-that's wonderful, President! I'm so happy for you!"_

"Don't be happy yet. It's not like she said yes or anything." The thought of Chihaya saying yes suddenly made Taichi feel nervous and his hand shook as he withdrew it from his coffee cup.

"_The spring has passed and the summer come again; For the white robes are spread to dry on the Mount of Kaguyama," _Oe-san quoted.

Taichi closed his eyes as he rolled in his head the vision of the poem Oe-san had said. He had never been that eager to find the meaning behind every single karuta card like Chihaya and Oe-san. It was strange, having this poem about the changing of the seasons touch him so deeply.

Spring was over. Summer was coming.

And Taichi was moving forward.

Oe-san giggled, then added. _"By the 'Chi', President."_ And she hung up.

Taichi's eyes snapped open, suddenly overcome by an unexplainable dread. He had called his friends. _Their_ friends. All of them had forgiven him and even wished him luck.

Taichi looked down at his mobile phone in utter horror. It stared right back at him menacingly, as if taunting him.

He needed to call Chihaya, ask her to meet up somewhere they could talk privately, pour his heart out to her, then cross his fingers and hope for the best.

Which was easier said than done.

At the back of his mind, he could practically hear Arata's Fukui dialect cursing at him to hurry up. In the end, he found himself staring at his mobile for a good twenty or so minutes. He blinked, looked down at his coffee and found that it had gotten cold.

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration, pulled at it angrily, then snapped his phone shut. He tossed it on his dining table and downed his coffee in one gulp. This was not going according to plan.

Taichi jumped when he heard something bang against his door.

"_Open up, Taichi! I know you're in there!"_

Taichi nearly fell off his chair. "Chi-Chihaya?"

What?

He flew to his door, which was being hit repeatedly from the other side with so much force that he thought it would break down. He wrenched it open to find Chihaya, looking absolutely disheveled in her Daddy Bear shirt and a pair of weathered jeans. Locks of hair were spilling from her usually neat ponytail. She was panting really hard, as if she had been running.

Taichi looked at her up and down before instinctively backing away when she took a step forward. She slammed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes.

Taichi instantly found himself on the defensive, which was ironic because this was his territory. A part of him kind of felt a bit glad that he did not have to call her, because he knew that emotionally, he was not completely ready to ask her if she could meet him after giving her the cold shoulder treatment for a month without even explaining why.

And now here she was, standing in his living room, bare toes curling on his floor mat, and anger radiating from those golden-brown eyes he had missed looking at ever since he had decided to stay away from her because he was an idiot.

He needed to stay calm. For some reason, something had brought Chihaya running and barging in on him so suddenly that he almost – but not completely – lost sight of what today was supposed to be.

Today was supposed to be Judgment Day.

And Chihaya was practically breathing fire from her nose for a reason unknown to him.

He decided to take the mature approach on things. He cleared his throat. "Long time, no see."

Chihaya shoved him on the chest. Taichi nearly toppled backwards.

_So much for the mature approach…_

"What do you take me for?" she demanded.

Taichi rubbed the spot where she had shoved him. He had almost forgotten how strong she could be. "It's nice to see you, too. Come in. Make yourself at home."

If anything, his civility only made Chihaya seethe more. "I've known you since we were in elementary, Taichi. I know your personality. I've been _isolated_ from everyone else by you before because of your twisted thinking, but I won't have any of that again, you hear? I won't have it!"

_Isolate?_

What on earth was she talking about?

Okay, so maybe now was the right time to ask her what it was that brought her to him, because this might actually be the only time Taichi had seen Chihaya this furious, and this might actually be the only time that fury was directed at _him_. "What are you so mad about?"

Chihaya rolled her eyes and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't play dumb with me. I was waiting for your call. Why aren't you calling me?" she asked loudly, cheeks coloring.

Taichi stared at her in utter confusion. Now, Chihaya had always been a very difficult person to understand, but honestly, right now, she was not making any sense. _"What?"_ he demanded.

"You called Tsukue-kun. You called Nikuman-kun. And then you called Kana-chan. Everyone got a phone call from you! Why don't _I _get a call?" she asked, getting redder by the second. She looked over Taichi's shoulder, towards the dining room.

Taichi followed her gaze and saw she was starting madly at his mobile phone. Taichi raised an eyebrow at her, then frowned. "Wait a minute. How did you know I called them?"

Chihaya bared her teeth at him angrily. "We all had karuta practice today, like as if you'd care, you karuta traitor, you!"

Things were getting stranger and stranger by the minute. Taichi raised his hands in front of him in surrender. "That can't be right. Arata told me you quit going to karuta practice."

Chihaya let out an indignant gasp. "You talked to _Arata_, too? So what, I'm the odd-one-out here? You suddenly decided you wanted to play soccer without telling anyone about it. You change your number without giving anyone a warning. And then, out of the blue, you started talking to everyone except _me_? What have I done to you that's made you hate me so much?"

Now Taichi had always considered himself fairly smart when it came to these things, and while he was good at pretty much anything, he wondered how he could be such a retard when it came to everything that concerned Ayase Chihaya. He shook his head. "I don't hate you! I was supposed to call you last. I swear!"

She was pouting now. She obviously thought he was lying. "I was waiting for over thirty minutes. My phone never rang." She pushed past him and started pacing around his couch. She looked awfully silly doing so, hair sticking out here and there.

He still couldn't believe how she could be able to make his heart race even when she looked like she had just been running away from rabid wolves.

"Good thing Arata managed to convince me to attend karuta practice today, or else I wouldn't have known," she muttered almost to herself as she finally decided to plant herself on the couch, crossing her legs in front of her. She gave him a pointed look. "You must not know that I've actually stopped going to karuta practice. Of course, you wouldn't care. You were too busy getting ogled by girls who scream every time you kick a stupid ball."

And that was when everything finally made sense. Taichi knew how to read between the lines, after all.

_Arata, you bastard._

Arata knew he was going to make calls to his friends.

Arata had made sure Chihaya would be around.

Arata had made sure she knew Taichi was calling.

He had set a trap on him, and Taichi was sure it was because Arata was afraid he would chicken out. And what better way to make sure that he didn't back down than to bring Chihaya to him?

Damn him…

_Damn… him…_

Taichi covered his mouth with the back of his hand, trying hurriedly to formulate a different plan now that Chihaya was there in front of him.

He could always just tell it straight out; Chihaya would understand better if he just blurted it out as it was. Tell her he loved her. Ask her how she felt about him. Rejoice if she said she loved him too. Kill himself if she said she didn't feel the same way. Good plan, good plan.

But Chihaya was mad at him at the moment. The possibility of her saying yes was probably at the lowest. And Taichi did not think his heart could handle disappointment right now, not after calling everyone else that mattered and have them cheer him on only to have Chihaya blow him off because he had waited half an hour before he called her.

"Oh, so you're ignoring me _now_, too."

Taichi looked up, not realizing that he had spaced out a bit. "I'm sorry, what?"

Chihaya was still looking up at him from her place on the couch. She had somewhat calmed down, but her face was still flushed. "I asked you to tell me what I did to make you hate me. Because I don't know what to do anymore, Taichi. I tried approaching you, but you always managed to slip away. I tried waiting, but you never came. What did I do wrong? What is it with me that you hate?"

Taichi watched her intently. Her eyes were a bit glassy, but she was not crying, which was strange, because Chihaya always cried when overcome with a strong emotion her heart couldn't handle well. Arata was right. She _has _changed.

And he knew that he owed her the truth.

He let his arms drop to his sides in resignation, turned away. "I don't hate you."

"Then what's the problem?" she asked.

"The problem is," Taichi said, paused, sighed. "The problem is that it might not make any sense to you, because you never really care about these things ever since I've known you, but _I love you_, Chihaya." He gave her a pointed stare, waiting for her reaction to the bombshell he had just dropped.

Chihaya blinked.

Taichi wrinkled his nose.

Chihaya blinked again.

Taichi groaned. "Say something."

She didn't say anything. She started to laugh. She laughed so loud that Taichi wanted to chase her out of his apartment then and there if he weren't curious enough about what her reaction was going to be.

But then he remembered what Arata had told him when Chihaya had turned him down. Chihaya had also laughed at Arata. She might turn Taichi down, too.

For some reason, Taichi was not happy about that thought.

"Don't laugh. You don't know how much soul-searching it took me just to tell you that. And you're just going to take it as some sort of joke when I was actually willing to give up almost everything we've planned with everyone else because I was afraid you're just going to do exactly what you're doing now," Taichi said seriously.

Chihaya's laughter instantly stopped, and her face was so red Taichi was afraid she might pass out any moment. "I… I'm sorry. I wasn't making fun of you."

It was Taichi's turn to cross his arms over his chest. "Yes, you were. You were laughing."

Chihaya was suddenly on the defensive. "What, no! I was… " Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she tried to find the words to say. When she obviously couldn't find any, she angrily turned back at him. "I'm not like you, who's an expert when it comes to matters of the heart, Taichi! First Arata, then you! You tell me you love me. How do girls normally react to that?"

Taichi stared at her with open disbelief. "Seriously? You're asking me _how _you should _react?"_

"Yeah," Chihaya said, as if it were that obvious. "I'm not… I don't know what to say."

Taichi wanted to pull at his hair. "Do you love me?" he asked, exasperated.

Chihaya started to stammer. "Err.. by love… what do you mean, exactly? Because… I'm not sure what you…" She stopped, then as if in an afterthought, she broke up smiling uncertainly. "Yes."

"Yes, what?" Taichi asked.

"Yes, I love you?" Chihaya answered.

Taichi waited for about a good tree to five seconds for everything to sink in. After that, he grabbed Chihaya's wrist, pulled her off the sofa and shoved her towards the door. "Get out of here. I'll call you later."

Chihaya was confused. She wrenched her wrist out of his grasp and refused to move any further. "What, no! I'm not going anywhere!"

"You're not taking this seriously!" Taichi shot back. He should have known this was not going to be easy. Nothing with Chihaya was ever easy.

"Yes I am! You told me you love me. I told you I love you! What else was there to say?" Chihaya asked.

Taichi tried to push her towards the door again. She kicked him in the shin and ran behind the sofa when Taichi doubled over in pain.

"You don't get it," Taichi grunted between gritted teeth as he rubbed the place where Chihaya had kicked him. "I'm not talking about loving you like a pal, or a sister, or a teammate. I'm talking about _'love'_ love."

Chihaya ducked behind the couch when Taichi straightened and went to approach her. "_'Love'_ love? Like, _'love' _love?"

Taichi was starting to get tired. He was spending too much energy on trying to make her understand what he meant that he had completely forgotten that this was a love confession that was supposed to change everything. He knelt down the couch, reached out and grabbed both her hands in his, planting it on the backrest, making sure she didn't run away.

"Like, _'boyfriend-girlfriend' _love. Like, _'holding-hands-while-watching-a-movie_' love. Love, Chihaya. Just that," he said patiently, and was kind of glad that she didn't look away from him.

"What is love, Taichi? You know I'm no expert when it comes to that," Chihaya muttered, and her hands Taichi had trapped in his were sweaty and gross, but he didn't want to let go.

Taichi bit his lower lip as an image of him on Chihaya together in a bullet train on the way to Fukui flashed through his mind's eye. It was so brief, but so, very sweet and painful that Taichi had to lower his eyes to the backrest of the couch where their hands met. She had asked him the same question, three years ago.

And he could vaguely remember that he hadn't really given her the answer.

"Love," he started. "Is not having fun with that person. You get pissed off most of the time. It's when nothing goes the way you want them to go. You're not having fun. And yet… You still want to be with her."

And Chihaya was watching him, those large eyes searching his face, as if waiting for a punch line. Taichi leaned his forehead against hers, relieved that she did not pull away.

"You piss the hell out me most of the time," Taichi continued, this time his eyes closed. He could feel Chihaya's breath on his upper lip, and he found comfort in the rhythm of her breathing. "You're greedy, and childish. You sleep like the dead, and drink noisily out of a water bottle."

"Oh, well excuse me!" Chihaya muttered as she tried to pull away.

Taichi held on tight, forcing Chihaya to press her forehead against his again. "You never look my way when I needed you to, and you've fawned over another guy majority of our high school days that had me dying with jealousy. But it had always been _you_. _That's _love. And I love _you_."

And Chihaya was silent. Taichi kept his eyes closed, afraid that if he opened them, he would see Chihaya's scared – or worse yet, disappointed – face. It took an eternity before she finally started to talk.

"You never annoyed me before. If anything, you were always patient with me. Being with you was fun. So much so that when you started avoiding me, everything felt bland. What's worse is that you never told me why," she said quietly.

Taichi shook his head. "It was because I love you."

She snorted. "You're strange. If you're going to avoid me forever because you love me, then _stop _loving me."

Taichi opened his eyes, and he saw that Chihaya had been staring at him closely from under her bangs. He had been this close to Chihaya many, many times before, but today felt different. It was strange how three little words could change two people's lives just like that. "I can't. I love you. I've loved you for a while now. I should have told you sooner, but I was too much of a coward to do so. But now I want to know what you feel about me. Do you love me?"

Chihaya never broke their gaze, and she was frowning. "I think…" she started. "I don't know if we have the same definition of it, because I have loads of fun when I'm you. But I do know that I wouldn't want to leave your apartment without knowing if you're going to return to my life again, because it's just too empty without you."

Taichi felt his heart skip a beat. Her words somehow drew out the courage that had started to falter when she kicked him. "Then that must mean you feel the same way."

She blushed. "Maybe." After a while, she added. "But you said _'boyfriend-girlfriend'_ love. I don't even have the slightest idea what we have to do if we… you know… " She hid her face in embarrassment.

Taichi squeezed her hands before letting go. "We don't have to do anything."

Chihaya rubbed her hands together, then, when she looked like she had no idea what to do with them, she reached out and took his hands again. "I don't have to call you Ta-kun, right?"

Taichi blinked, and it took him a few seconds to process what she had just said. "So you're saying… ?" he asked in disbelief.

It took a while before she nodded shyly. Then, as if realizing that she was getting a bit flustered, she giggled nervously. "So long as I don't have to call you Ta-kun. And so long as you keep away from fangirls. I don't think I like them hanging around you. Kana-chan told me that I could be jealous, but of course, I'm not really jealous. But girls giving you drinks and lunches make me uncomfortable. _But I'm not jealous!_ And I think – "

"Chihaya."

"What?"

"You talk too much."

And he silenced her with a kiss. Clumsily. Right on the mouth.

_After all, you had to take it by the 'Chi'._

_Right there._

_By the 'Chi'._

Chihaya, who had never been kissed in her life, let out a small squeak when Taichi pressed his lips firmly against hers. It wasn't an especially long one. Taichi had expected fireworks, maybe angels singing on the background. He was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't anything strangely magical, because he wanted to remember it the way that it really was; Chihaya suddenly breaking a sweat, and those wide, doe-eyes staring back at him when he pulled away.

"Eew, Taichi!" Chihaya protested as she shoved him against the chest, coloring violently. "That was my first kiss…"

Taichi, still slightly on cloud-nine, nodded slowly as he stopped her hands from shoving him again. "I know. How was it?"

Chihaya gave him a mortified look before turning away, embarrassed. She licked her lower lip tentatively before saying, "It tasted like coffee…"

And Taichi decided that that was a good thing.

* * *

_**A/N: This was longer than all the other chapters. I might re-write it someday, but just maybe.**_

_**Stay tuned for the epilogue!**_


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

News about the fashion model, Ayase Chitose's younger sister starting to date the soccer heartthrob, Mashima Taichi, spread through campus like wildfire, thanks to a group of friends – who would remain unnamed in the meantime – who had made too much of a big deal of it when Taichi had told them about the night he had finally confessed to Chihaya.

While Nishida and Komano had been quite satisfied with the outcome of his story, Oe-san and Hanano-san had practically chewed his ears off for settling for such a half-baked answer from the oblivious Chihaya.

"_So, what, are you guys dating already?"_ Hanano-san had asked him when he called her on the phone to inform her of his breakthrough.

"_Isn't that what usually happens after two people decide they like each other?" _Taichi had countered.

"_Oh, god… You didn't ask her if she'd go out with you, did you?"_

"_I don't think that was necessary. I told her I love her, and she… well… she kind of said she did, too."_

"_We're talking about Ayase-senpai here!"_

Crap…

Taichi wondered how women could be so annoyingly accurate. Chihaya had avoided him for two days before finally having the decency to pick up her phone when he called her the hundredth time to ask what was wrong. When Chihaya had done nothing but stutter at him before hanging up, Taichi had started to believe that perhaps Oe-san and Hanano-san had been right; Chihaya had no clue whatsoever on what to do with Taichi's feelings for her. Or better yet, she had no clue on what to do with _her _feelings.

Taichi felt an angry vein throb on his forehead as he stuffed his mobile phone into his back pocket. This was not what he had imagined how things were going to be after his confession.

Then again, he had imagined something far, _far _worse…

But to have finally poured his heart out to her, then even came as far as kiss her…

"She has the emotional capacity of a nine-year-old," Taichi muttered to himself as he slammed his locker door shut, frustrated at the turn of events. He could not believe he had antagonized himself for years and years to come up with a way for him to tell her he loved her.

And it had been perfect.

Well, maybe not really perfect. But it came very close to being perfect. She even did not deny the fact that she needed him.

And then they kissed.

And now Chihaya was no where to be found.

_Damn her. _

"Excuse us…"

He glanced up to see two blushing girls standing beside him, looking up at him with watery eyes. They were clutching at each others' hands the way girls did when they were watching a very, very intense noonday drama.

"I-is it true, Mashima-san? A-are you really seeing Ayase Chihaya-san?" one of the smaller of the girls asked, then gripped the hand of her friend even tighter.

Taichi could not help but take a quick step back at the sudden realization, utterly at a loss for words. Oe-san and Hanano-san were right! His confession had not been perfect! If he had made a fool-proof proposal, he would have taken this sudden interview into stride, smile down at the girls and say, _"Yes, Chihaya and I are dating."_

But no. He did not know if he and Chihaya were dating. He had just assumed that this led to that, and now Chihaya was avoiding him like the plague.

Definitely not something a girl would do to a guy she was seeing.

_Crap, crap, crap…_

"There you are, Taichi." Arata appeared from around the corner of their locker hall, his book bag tucked under one arm. "Been lookin' all over for you."

The two girls turned around and shyly smiled up at Arata. "Wataya-kun. No karuta practice today?"

Arata grinned down at them. "The freshmen are startin' late today. The regulars have the whole club room occupied for practice."

Taichi took the opportunity to squirm away from the two girls' questions and made to run off the opposite direction. "Yeah, well I have soccer practice. I'll see you around, Arata."

"Ah, wait Taichi!" Arata called to him, then in a loud voice said, "Your _girlfriend_ was lookin' for you!"

The two girls' eyes widened even more, and Taichi stopped in his tracks, feeling the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end. He whirled around and found Arata shooing away the two girls who looked like they were about to cry.

"Chihaya was _looking_ for me?" Taichi asked in disbelief.

Arata scratched his head as he started walking down the hall with him. "Actually, she was _hidin'_ under a table in Modern Lit after class."

Taichi felt the angry vein once again throb on his temple. "Did she say anything?"

Arata shrugged. "She was mutterin' something to herself. I couldn't make it out, so I left her under the table and went to look for you."

Somehow, that did not make Taichi feel any better. "It's been two days."

"You avoided her for a _month_," Arata pointed out, sounding so very close to accusing him.

"I had wanted to forget about her, because I thought she was already going out with _you_," Taichi shot back, but instantly felt guilty because he knew that Arata did not deserve to be the victim of his bad mood. He ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry. This just sucks."

Arata had to laugh. "Why do you always have to over-analyze things? Chihaya is different from other girls out there who fall at your feet because you smile at them. She's probably mullin' things over about what happened in your apartment that night."

This was probably true, though it annoyed him that Chihaya chose to try to solve her feelings alone. At this rate, she would probably be _'mulling things over' _until they graduated.

"I'm kind of surprised, though," Arata said suddenly as they crossed the field towards the athletics building. "Who would have thought you'd have the courage to kiss her."

Taichi nearly missed a step, and he turned to Arata, embarrassed. "I should never have told you, had I known you were going to make fun of me."

"I'm not makin' fun of you. I'm just surprised is all. You were always too busy protectin' your pride that you always thought ahead on how you're going to put up a face after you lose. I assumed you would've have stopped half-way when Chihaya started laughin' at you. Tell me, what made you change your mind?"

Taichi found himself stopping in his tracks, blinking. It was strange how Arata could always invoke in him a peace of mind to think things clearly, when all the while he had considered him to be his hundred and first rival.

But, come to think of it, now that he had openly declared all the feelings he had denied himself, he wondered where those rivals had gone. Chihaya had gotten over her obsession at becoming the Queen, and instead was now actually concentrating on her studies. Of all things, she was _seriously _studying. She wasn't running off to play karuta with Harada-sensei, nor was she obsessing over Wakamiya Shinobu. In the month he had avoided Chihaya, she had evolved into someone he could not believe she was capable of being.

And in that month, without him even openly noticing, the hundred rivals he had between them had turned into nothing more than what they really were; mere cards in a game.

And Arata…

Arata was his friend.

"_You _changed my mind," Taichi said, finally answering Arata's question.

Arata blinked at him, confused, as he also stopped walking.

Taichi's grip on his book bag tightened, and he took a step forward, determined to tell Arata what he knew he needed to say. "When we were kids, I knew nothing but winning, and it wasn't until I met you that I appreciated the pain of losing at something. And that made me realize a lot of things I didn't know about myself, until that first time we had a match, and I had to steal your glasses just to make sure you didn't beat me when I knew Chihaya was looking. I discovered what I hated about myself, and after that day, I knew what you had that I didn't, and it was something Chihaya saw in you that had always made me feel less than what you were."

Arata did not say anything, but he had closed his eyes as he waited for Taichi to continue. He had a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, and he had leaned his weight on one leg.

"Arata, at one point in time, I had thought you to be my enemy. What does that say about me?"

Arata's eyes opened slightly, and he shook his head. "That makes you somethin' what you could call what _I_ am. There was a time when I thought the same thing, because I was jealous of the proximity you shared with her. And now that things turned out this way, I knew it was right of me to be jealous."

Taichi bit the insides of his cheeks, suddenly getting worried. He asked, "You still love her, don't you?"

Arata laughed again. "I will always love her, Taichi. You know that."

Taichi gave him a small smile, then said, "How could I forget?"

Arata raised an eyebrow at him, wordlessly sending him a message Taichi already knew the meaning of.

Taichi turned on his heel and started towards the opposite direction of the athletics building. Screw soccer practice.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" Arata asked after him, and Taichi could detect the humor in his voice.

Taichi didn't even bother to look back as he said, "I'm taking your threat seriously."

And he broke into a run.

"Taichi! Modern Lit! Under the table!" he heard Arata call out to him.

People around them turned to stare rudely as Taichi ran past them. With the way Arata had shouted out to him, one could have thought they were talking about a book or an eraser he had forgotten in class.

Girls did double-takes as he dashed across the field, his bag slapping across his back from his shoulder. Some tried to stop him, wanting to ask something or another, which he could actually care less about. And so he kept running. Across the field, down the alley between the Administrations Building and Home Economics Lab, through the hall of the Faculty of Letters, up the stairs.

And finally, in front of the classroom for Modern Literature at the second floor of that building.

By the time he had slid the door open, Taichi was starting to wonder what it was with Chihaya and cramped spaces, because he could recall back in their first year when Chihaya had locked herself inside a closet after losing a match to Yamamoto Yumi-san. It had been the first – though not the last – that Taichi had seen her so upset about something regarding Karuta. Although Taichi had already known Chihaya to always wear her heart on her sleeve, she had never tried to run away from her feelings, and so the memory of her hiding away in a small closet had stayed with him all these years.

That, and that had been the very first time he had actually admitted to himself that he was hopelessly in love with her.

And it had been the very first time he had acknowledged that only Arata could have been able to comfort Chihaya better than he could have done himself.

But it wasn't Arata who Chihaya was hiding from right now. And it wasn't Arata who was looking for her.

"I know you're in there, Chihaya," Taichi called, and he heard something move at the back of the classroom, making one of the desks scrape its legs against the linoleum floor. Oh, she was in there, all right. Taichi stepped inside the room and slid the door closed behind him. "Are you hiding from me because of what I said two days ago?"

There was more movement at the back of the room and Taichi caught a visual of Chihaya's familiar ponytail peeking from under the second table from the west-side window. Chihaya was not an especially small girl, and Taichi could only wonder how she had managed to fit under that table. But then again, Chihaya was capable of doing anything once she put her mind into it.

Sighing deeply, Taichi decided to keep a safe distance from her for the moment and made his way towards the teacher's desk, hopping onto it and sitting facing the blackboard, letting his feet dangle loosely a few inches above the platform.

"Talk to me, Chihaya," he said quietly, leaning back onto his hands. He had thought that everything had been resolved that night after he had kissed her. For someone who was so smart as he, he wondered why kissing her had been such a good idea then, when now that he looked back at it, it had been a careless, aggressive course of action, especially since he was dealing with a girl who had never been too experienced with anything regarding love to begin with.

She had reacted the way she would always react about so many things, as if they did not bother her. But now that the pressure of telling her his feelings was no longer in the equation, he was able to think clearly enough to deduct that there was just no way that this _wasn't_ bothering her. Of _course _it would bother her! Her best friend had just told her he loved her. Had kissed her without warning. Had concluded for her that she felt the same way.

Now that he thought about it, Chihaya never said what she felt about him.

He had just _assumed_.

And now Chihaya was hiding under a stupid table.

He sighed again. Had he messed up? Lately, he felt like it was the only thing he had been doing lately, messing up relationships with friends. "You were always so easy to understand, you know. You say things the way you saw them, and you never sugar-coat anything you wanted to say. You set your heart on something, and you've always fought for it a hundred percent, regardless of winning or losing. It was always something I had admired about you. All throughout high school, I had thought, _'Man, she's so great,'_ while thinking that you had your heart set on someone else…"

He could hear her moving again, and judging from the sound of the table, she must have moved from under the space and out in the open. He didn't dare turn around, afraid that she might suddenly retreat again. He wondered why he felt like he was dealing with some wild animal, but pushed the thought aside and continued talking.

"The past two days you were avoiding me, I thought to myself that my confession had been perfect. But then again, that may have been just my pride talking. You deserved more than a half-rushed confession like that." Taichi paused, then could not help but add, "But I had you to blame for that for barging in on me when I wasn't emotionally prepared yet."

He nearly looked over his shoulder when he heard a gasp, a snarl, then a yelp from her direction. He was completely caught off-guard when he felt arms wrap themselves around his waist from behind, and the smell of strawberry-scented shampoo wafted around him as he felt her head rest itself against his shoulder.

Taichi felt all the blood rush to his ears, and for a brief moment he was unsure of what to do. Chihaya had never been stingy with hugs back in their high school days; they hugged each other all the time when they won in team matches and the like. But hugs from Chihaya always came in tackle-form, and so this gentle embrace, almost close to being a caress, made him feel a bit light-headed.

Taichi lowered his chin to his chest, took a deep breath, and then another. Breathing always calmed him down. In. Out. Deep breaths. He cleared his throat and took the plunge. "The greatest fear I had back in high school was the very, very big possibility of you being in love with Arata. When Arata and I helped you move into your dorm room, I heard him confess to you, and I was a coward to even listen till the end that I ran away from him, and from you. I avoided you because I know myself enough that I could never be sincerely happy for you if you two had started seeing each other.

"It was unfair of me, I knew. But I just couldn't bring myself to accept the fact that you belonged with someone else. It wasn't until Arata finally approached me and told me you had turned him down. And at that moment, I was so happy I didn't know what to do. I called everyone to apologize, and I told them I was going to tell you what I felt about you, and I was so excited because they were cheering me on. I was about to call you, but I didn't know what to say. And when you came banging on my door, I panicked… " Taichi took another deep breath, wracking his brains for more things to say. He felt like he needed to explain to her everything, because he was afraid she was going to misunderstand. And they've had too much of those as of late.

"I'm sorry," Chihaya suddenly said, her arms tightening around him. "I'm not exceptionally smart when it comes to anything. Sometimes, I wonder if the only thing I'm really good at is karuta." She paused for a while, as if thinking how to continue, then, "Taichi, do you remember that time when we had an overnight practice session at your house the night of my birthday?"

Taichi nodded silently. He knew of that night very well. They had arranged everything for her surprise birthday cake, and it would have turned out pretty well had it not been for his mother and sister coming home.

"I was so fixated on karuta that you had to point out to me that Kana-chan and Tsukue-kun were at breaking point then. I'm… I'm not good at empathizing when it comes to the people around me. Maybe it was because I was too set on the game that I forget the more important aspects of it." She shifted her head on his shoulder, and Taichi could feel her heart pounding against his back. "I'm sorry I'm not good at this kind of thing. I had to think things through for the last two days about what you asked me back in your apartment. I know there could have been better ways of solving this, but I guess I suck at decision-making, too."

And it was that time when Taichi actually started feeling nervous. Chihaya had been thinking things through. She had been thinking about _him_. Back in high school, he had been so convinced that she had a way with prioritizing everything in her own little karuta world where he thought that he did not really matter. But here she was, _thinking _about him.

"Wh-what have you decided?" He was almost too scared to ask.

Chihaya's embrace tightened once again, making it hard for Taichi to breathe, but the words that came out of her mouth was even more overwhelming that for a moment he didn't care if she choked the life out of him.

"I think I really do love you, too."

And it was in that one sentence did Taichi feel the years he had wasted on loving her secretly had all been worth it. It was new to find her all emotional about something that did not concern karuta, and Taichi felt his heart racing at the mere thought that she had actually been busy for the last two days thinking about him, and sorting out her feelings.

In one swift move, he pushed himself around and grabbed her in a stifling embrace that left her laughing against his chest. He buried his face into her neck, inhaling the scent of downy on her shirt. It somehow helped him calm down.

And Mashima Taichi was always rational when he was calm.

And after all this soul-searching, he finally had enough emotional leeway to ask Chihaya something he had always wanted to ask ever since graduation day.

"Do… you want to attend the Shiranami's practice session this weekend? We can ask Arata to join us…" he asked into her shoulder, not caring that a few strands of her hair had snaked their way into his shirt collar and was tickling him like crazy.

The way Chihaya's hands clawed at the back of his shirt and the excited squeal that bubbled out of her throat was more of an answer. She nodded. "I'd love that." Then she added, "It would be just like old times."

And all the insecurity, all the hopeless, helpless self-pity he had put himself through for thinking that Arata had always been the hundred and first of those that were standing in his way of happiness, suddenly felt like nothing more than a distant, very insignificant memory.

And Taichi couldn't help but pull away, rest his forehead against hers, and – _finally _– sincerely say, "It would be just like old times," he agreed.

* * *

_~Fin~_

* * *

_**A/N: Ah, it feels good finishing this story. I love this manga so much and I'm crossing my fingers for a season 3.**_

_**Anyway, it's time to thank you all for sticking to me till the very end of this little project. For all of those who have favorited, alerted and reviewed this, thank you. It had been a great joy to share my love to fellow TaichixChihaya fans. It was an enjoyable ride because you had been an awesome audience.**_

_**In the near future, I'd like to write more about these two, but for some reason, I have a fetish for underrated shoujou and it's been a week now since a Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun plot bunny had started hopping around in my head.**_

_**That said, I'm signing off for now to shower some of the stories I have in another fandom that I had been ignoring lately because of this fic. Here's to hoping we have good updates on the Chihayafuru manga.**_

_**Well, till then! Yuugiri says bye-bye!**_


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